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Full text of "Creative Computing Magazine (April 1985) Volume 11 Number 04"

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Creative 
Computing 

THE #1 MAGAZINE OF M COMPUTER APPLICATIONS %^Ah 



IN-DEPTH 
EVALUATIONS 

Morrow Pivot 
Dimension 68000 
Concurrent PC-DOS 
Hush 80 Printer 
C. Itoh 7500EP Printer 
Pre-school Software 
SAT Packages 
College Explorer 

Technology: Detecting 
Defects in an IC 

PCs Power Real-World 
Flight Simulators 

An Interview With 
Astronaut Alan Bean 

1985 Winter Consumer 
Electronics Show: The 
Latest and Greatest 

New Commodore 128 

Selecting a Notebook 
Computer Under $1000 

Columns: Apple, IBM, 
Tandy, Atari, Industry 
Insider, New Products 



04 



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'Registered trademark of the ZSoft Corp. 



CIRCLE 158 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



Now Showing 
In Black And White 



tf you own an IBM-PC 
or PC work-alike, 
Roland's new MB-142 
monitor lets you show off 
your text and graphics in 
today's hottest colors- 
black and white. That's 
right! The MB-142 gives 
you black characters on a 
paper-white background- 
just like people have been 
reading for centuries. You 
can also have white char- 
acters on a black back- 
ground with just the touch 
of a button. 

Both of these black and 
white display formats are 
easier on the eyes and 
less fatiguing than the green 
or amber phosphor used in 
standard monochrome 
monitors. The MB-142's 
large 14-inch screen, com- 
bined with its ultra-high 
720 x 350 resolution, 
can display characters 
that are larger and 
more legible than what 
you can get with ordi- 
nary monochrome 
monitors. Another 
great plus is that the 
MB-142 plugs directly 
into the monochrome 
board of your IBM or com- 
patible—just like your pres- 
ent monochrome monitor, 
with nothing more to buy. 
Because of the MB-142's 
advanced electronic cir- 
cuitry, you even have the 
ability to mix graphics and 
text on the same display 
when using graphics and text 
boards from leading manu- 
facturers such as Persyst, 
STB, Paradise, Hercules, AST 
and many others. What makes 
it all possible? The same 
sophisticated technology 
used in color monitors. 





the MB-142 
supports 
all the 
winning 
cards 




the big difference is 
' that the MB-142 
monitor does the job for 
significantly less money. 
The MB-142 is designed 
to interface economically, 
too. Imagine seeing your 
favorite business graphics 
or CAD/CAM packages, 
such as Lotus 1-2-3, Ener- 
graphics, Chart-Master, 
AutoCAD, CADDraft and 
VersaCAD, in ultra-high 
resolution black and 
white. Also, take full 
advantage of your pro- 
gram's windowing 
capability using the large 
14-inch screen. 
Take a good look at the 
differences that set the 
MB-142 apart from the rest. 
No other monochrome 
monitor gives you the 
fatigue-free black and 
white viewing, text and 
graphics capabilities 
and easy interface. 
Naturally enough, 
the MB-142 is from 
Roland DG-the 
new computer 
peripherals company 
that's pointing the way 
to the future. Look for 
this and other Roland 
products at fine com- 
puter dealers 
everywhere. 
For more information, 
contact: Roland DC, 
7200 Dominion Circle, Los 
Angeles, CA 90040. 
(213) 685-5141. 



The software programs listed are trademarks 

..I the following companies: AutoCAD. 

AUTODESK. Inc ; CADDraft. Personal CAD 

Systems. Inc.; Chart-Master. 1 1 

Resources. Inc.; Knerfiraphics. Enertronic 

Research. Inc.: Lotui ■ velop- 

ment Corp.; VersaCAD. T&W Systems. Inc. 



CIRCLE 167 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



TimeujcRta 

Evelyn Wood 




The Evelyn Wood Dynamic Rt 
Now, the world's most renowned 
master brings the techniques of 
Dynamic Reading to your computer. 

Learning to read faster isn't good enough. With 
the Evelyn Wood Dynamic Reader, you'll learn 
to read three to ten times faster— but with 
better comprehension and retention. 

OnlyTimeworks brings this highly 
successful reading program into your 
computer. It will guide you like a gifted teacher through the 
drills and exercises at your own comfortable pace, automatically 
record your progress, and let you graphically review your results 

on colorful bar charts. 

Reading Dynamics 
is not a skimming or 
"key word" association 
technique. It is a totally 
different reading concept 
that registers every word, 
every idea, every shade 
of meaning in the written material. You will use more of your mental 
capacity and learn to concentrate. Your mind won't wander while 
you read. 

Reading dynamically is more enjoyable than reading the old 
way. Complete thought patterns and ideas emerge from the written 
material in a smoothly moving ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



If it takes you more than 

30 seconds to read this ad, 

you need Evelyn Wood. 



P "U""U 



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picture. Instead of perceiving 
individual bits and pieces of 
information and putting them 
together as best you can, 
you will see total concepts. 
Reading dynamically is like 
living in the material. 

The Evelyn Wood Dynamic 
Reader provides you with the 
exercises and tools you need to 
help you increase your reading "^^^■^■^^^^^^^ 

comprehension and speed. Your own personal computer helps you 
develop your skills at your own pace. 

You learn the essential techniques of Dynamic Reading in your 
own home— at any time convenient for you. You can repeat exercises 
as often as you wish to assure that you maintain optimal reading 
efficiency Each program contains 50 Skill-Builder exercises, 20 read- 
ing exercises and 40 quizzes. 

OnlyTimeworks offers the Evelyn Wood Dynamic Reader Now 
at your favorite dealer. Or contact Timeworks, Inc., 405 Lake Cook 
Road, Deerfield, IL 60015. Phone: 312-948-9200. 
Available for Commodore 64? IBM* Apple* Atari* 



Timeworks Programs: 

Data Manager 2 Word Writer Swiftax 

Money Manager Electronic Checkbook 

Business System Series Dungeons of 

Algebra Dragons Spellbound Cave of the 

Word Wizard ■ Computer Education Kits 




J 1964 Reading Dynamics, he and Timeworks. Inc A» rights reserved "Registered trademarks of 
Commodore Computer Systems. International Business Machines Corp, Apple Computer. Inc., Atari, mc. 

IIRCLE 147 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



VOLUME 11 NUMBER 4 APRIL 1985 



Creative 
Computing 




PRODUCT REVIEWS 

32 Morrow Pivot /A hi 

A portable MS-DOS computer 
with built-in disk and modem 



3ft Dimension/Anderson 

A 68000 machine that does 
impressions 

42 Concurrent PC-DOS/ Terry 
When integration isn't enough 

4g Hush 80 Printer /Linzmayer 
Thermal dot-matrix print at a 
bargain price 

4g C. Itoh 79U0EV/ Linzmayer 
^^ A happy marriage of form and 
function 

Ol Preschoolers Learn at 

Home/Smith 

Math packages encourage fun, 

learning, and togetherness 

OC Growing Up Lltermte/ Staples 
An update on SAT preparation 
software 

93 ColleRe Explorer AM 

A valuable aid to choosing a 
college 



FEATURES 



CQ 1985 Winter Consumer 
Electronics ShowMM 
New Products from the show floor 

52 Inshle an IC /Adams 

Using ultrasound to detect defects 

Q5 Subatomic Tombstones/Pa vac k 
Concrete poetry? 

NEW PRODUCTS 



55 What's New In 

Hmrdwmn/ Lockwood 
Peripherals for all computers 

58 What's New in 

Sottwmn/Lockwood 
Spreadsheets, word processors, 
graphics, and more 



APPLICATIONS 



QQ More Than One Way To Skin a 
**" Rabbit A hi 



Generating Fibonacci sequences 



OVERVIEW 



RA Goodbye, Little Red 

*" Schoolhouse/Crowe// 

Educational software from 54 
manufacturers 




The Cover: Goodbye, Little Red Schoolhouse. Our software schoolhouse embodies 
the educational theme of this month's issue. Exploring some of the latest educational 
tools are David Grosjean, son of Reviews Editor Paul Grosjean; Joshua Bicknell, son 
of Artist Eugene Bicknell, and Erin Henry, a friend of the family. Photography by 
Jeff MacWright. Schoolhouse by Peter Kelley. 



( rcamr I imtpuliiiK ( ISSN f 197-8140) is published monthly al V460 Wilshirc Blvd.. Los Angeles. gStm _..-. 
CA 90010 h> Ahl Computing. Inc. * subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company David Ahl. I ^rDrA 

President. I h/ahrih B. Staples. Vice President. Sclwyn Taubman. Treasurer: Bertram A. ajMUJf ▼ ssr- 

Abr>ms.Secreury J9 East Hanover Ave . Morris Plains NJ 0795O Second Class Postage paid at Los Angeles CA 90052 and 
additional mailing nfhecs Copyright*'' 19*5 by Ahl Computing. Inc. All rifhls reserved Editorial offices located at 19 East 
Hanover Ave Morris Plains. NJ 07950 Phone (201) 5404445. Domestic Subscriptions: 12 issues $24.97: 24 issues $4197: 
36 issues $57.97. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Creative Computing. PQ Boi 5214. Boulder. CO MM2I Call 800- 
f. <I-8II2 loll-lree (in New Jersey call 20l-540-0445)toordera subscription 



QQ Wondrous Numbers and Other 

Diversions/M/7/igan 

The Tortoise challenges Achilles 



DEPARTMENTS 



g Industry Insider Ahl 
Commodore vs. Atari 

1 Q People and Profiles/ Anderson & 
W Staples 

Astronaut Alan Bean; the 
Stonehenge Watch 

1 g Book Reviews/Z.ocfcwood 
Careers, Logo, and the 
marketplace 

22 In Re "' Tlme/Lockwood 

Singer: From sewing machines to 
space shuttles 

Oft Telecommunications 

Talk/SWfer 

The Reader's Guide goes 

electronic 

g2 Editorlal/5ta/»te.s 

Educational computing: Where 
are we now? 

102 Notebook Computing, Ahl 

Choosing a notebook computer 
for under $1000 

1 08 ^PPk Cart/ Linzmayer 
Programming contest! 

Ill Tandy Gram, Commander 

Third-party DOSes make Color 
Computer programming easier 

11C Commodore's Port/Leemon 
TheC128: Three machines 
in one 



1 20 On' 00 *" Atari/5ma// 
New computers ar- 1 
Plato, ana rumors 



New computers and peripherals, 
id i 



"| 24 ,BM Images/Fort it? 

Mini- reviews of nine useful 
products 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 3 



STAFF 



Founder/Editor-in-Chief: 



David H. Ahl 



Editor: 

Managing Editor: 
Associote Editor: 
Assistant Editors: 

Reviews Editor: 
Editor-at-Large: 
Contributing Editors: 



Editorial Assistants: 



Secretary: 



Elizabeth B. Staples 

Pater Fa* 

John J. Anderson 

Owen Linzmoyer 
Ruts Lock wood 

Paul Grosjean 

Ken Uston 

Will Fastie 

Susan Glinert-Cole 

Danny Goodman 

Stephen B. Gray 

Glenn Hart 

Bill Jacobson 

Brian Murphy 

Ted Nelson 

Peter Pay ack 

Jane M. Lewis 
Carol A. Crowell 

Alexis Leffeld 



Art Director: Patrick Calkins 

Assistant Art Director: Chris DeMilia 

Artists: Eugene Bicknell, Peter Kelley 

Typesetting: DiannaMizell 

COMPUTER PUBLICATIONS DIVISION 

President Kenneth H. Koppel 

Senior Vice President Eileen G. Markowitz 

Vice President, Editorial Jonathan D. Lazarus 

Vice President, Production Baird Davis 

Vice President, 

Licensing & Special Projects Jerry Schneider 

Vice President, 

Creative Services Herbert Stern 

Vice President, Circulation Alicia Marie Ivans 

Vice President, 



Circulation Services 
Marketing Manager 
Business Manager 
Editorial Director 



James Ramaley 
Ronni Sonnenberg 
Gary A. Gustation 

Ernest F. Baxter 



PERMISSIONS 

Material in this publication may not be 
reproduced in any form without permission. 
Requests lor permission should be directed 
to Jean Lomensdorl. Ziff-Davis Publishing 
Company, One Park Avenue, New York, 
New York 10016. 



ADVERTISING 
SALES 



Publisher 

Claude P. Sheer, Creative Computing 

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company 

One Park Ave. 

New York, NY 10016 

(212)503-5011 

Advertising Coordinator 

Lisa Crandall, Creative Computing 
Ziff-Davis Publishing Company 
One Park Ave. 
NewYork.NY 10016 
(212)503-5012 

Western Advertising Manager 

Jeff Miller, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company 
1 1 Davis Drive 
Belmont, CA 94002 
(415)598-2290 

Southern California, Southwest 

Tom Martin 

Ziff-Davis Publishing Company 

3460 Wilshire Blvd. 

Los Angeles, CA 900 10 

(213)387-2100 

New England 

Merrie lynch, Nancy Wood 
CEL Associates, Inc. 
61 Adams Street 
Braintree, MA02184 
(617)848-9306 

Midwest 

Jeff Edman, William Biff Fairclough 
The Pattis Group 
4761 W.Touhy Ave. 
Lincolnwood, IL 60646 
(312)679-1100 

Mid-Atlantic, Southeast 

Larry Levine 

Ziff-Davis Publishing Compony 

One Park Ave. 

NewYork.NY 10016 

(212)503-5013 

(201)972-9466 

Canada 

The Pattis Group 

501 Eglinton Ave. E. 

Suite 202 

Toronto Ontario M4P IN4 

(416)482-6288 



ATTENTION: 
AUTHORS 

Creative Computing will not be responsible 
for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, 
cassettes, floppy disks, program listings, etc. 
not subm tted with o self-addressed, stamped 
envelope. 



WHERE TO 
SEND IT 



All editorial material, including article 
submissions, press releases, and products 
for evaluation should be sent to: 

Creative Computing 

39 E. Hanover Ave. 

Morris Plains. NJ 07950 

Correspondence regarding other Creative 
Computing products and publications should 
also be sent to the Morris Plains address. 
Correspondence related to advertising, 
including ad copy, questions on billing, and 
requests for rates, should be sent to: 

Advertising Department 

Creative Computing 

Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. 

One Park Ave. 

NewYork.NY 10016 

Correspondence regarding subscriptions, 
including orders, changes of address, and 
problems should be sent to: 

Creative Computing 

P.O. Box 5214 

Boulder, CO 80321 

Your help in choosing the correct address for 
your correspondence is appreciated. An 
incorrectly addressed letter or package can 
take as long as several weeks to reach its 
proper destination. 



SUBSCRIPTIONS 



All subscription orders and other correspon- 
dence related to subscriptions should be 
addressed to: 

Creative Computing 

P.O. Box 52 1 4 

Boulder. Colorodo 8032 1 

Foreign subscriptions must be accompanied 
by payment in U.S. currency. 

Subscription prices: 

U.S. Canada Foreign 

1 year $24.97 1 year 29.97 1 year 34.97 

2 yeors 43.97 2 years 53.97 2 years 63.97 
3years 57.97 3 years 72.97 3yeors 87.97 

Airmail delivery on foreign subscription is 
available for a one-year period only at $75.00 
additional for mail to Asia and Australia, 
and $50.00 additional for all other foreign. 

Subscribers in the United Kingdom may 
send payment in sterling to: 

Hazel Gordon 

10 Bishops Way 

Sutton Coldfield 

WestMidlondsB74 4XU 

Please allow ot least eight weeks for 
change of address. Include old address as 
well as new — enclosing if possible an 
address label from a recent issue. 



4 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 





Your personal computer deserves the 
unequalled monitor quality of Sakata 

Your computer deserves the most monitor 
quality value possible. ..and so do you. SAKATA 
CRT DISPLAY MONITORS give you more 
monitor quality than the most expensive 
monitors available. Each SAKATA MONITOR 
provides unequalled color reproduction; 
sharpest and most vivid graphics; text that you 
read more easily than you ever expected; 
and technical characteristics and capabilities 
that will amaze you. 

Protect your personal computer's 



performance by utilizing SAKATA CRT 
MONITORS which provide the utmost in 
monitor value. Choose from an entire line of 
Composite Color; RGB High Resolution Color; 
RGB Super High Resolution Color and two 
monochromes (green and amber) that have 
more quality than other monochrome monitors. 
We promise performance". 

SAKATA CRT MONITORS are available 
wherever personal computers are sold or write 
for technical and illustrated literature and prices. 

SAKATA U S A. CORPORATION 

651 Bonnie Lane. Elk Grove Village. IL 60007 

(312) 593-321 1 800-323-6647 (outside Illinois) 



a teat 






'Serving industry worldwide since 1896' 



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CIRCLE 243 ON READER SERVICE CARD 




.*& 



The HBJ Computer Test 
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Each package contains: 
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COMPUTER PREPARATION 
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Available for: Apple, Atari, 
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CIRCLE 117 ON READER SERVICE CARD 

6 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1 985 



INDUSTRY 




David H.Ahl 



Commodore vs. Atari 

Commodore and Atari are the two 
major competitors in the mass mer- 
chandiser arena. Sam Tramiel, president 
of Atari, and Frank Leonardi, vice presi- 
dent of marketing for Commodore, 
spoke out at CES about their plans. 

Commodore is said to have notori- 
ously bad dealer relations. Leonardi: 
"Commodore's relationship with its dis- 
tribution is a normal one for the con- 
sumer electronics industry. Dealers are 
opportunistic, which is good, because it 
puts a lot of pressure on manufacturers 
to constantly strive for new things." 

Atari is apparently trying to set high 
quotas for its dealers. Tramiel: "Wearea 
very flexible company, and everything is 
negotiable." With respect to collecting 
from old accounts, "All the old business 
we inherited from Warner has been put 
aside and is totally separate from new 
business and new orders." 

Commodore sees the channels of 
distribution becoming more similar. 
Leonardi: "The large computer chains 
(Computerland, Entre) do their mer- 
chandising in a way that is similar to the 
large mass merchants (K-Mart, Sears). 
They're looking for leaders to bring the 
customers in and step up items for the 
high end." 

Atari sees youngsters as the key to 
selling home computers. Tramiel: "The 
kids know what to do wit h computers be- 
cause they use them in school. It is a criti- 
cal part of our marketing plan to sell to 
school systems. We've set up an educa- 
tion group within our sales organization 
to do that." 

Leonardi on Commodore's compet- 
itors: "Apple and IBM." 

Tramiel on Atari's future: "More 
powerful 32-bit computers, more aggres- 
sive pricing, and new electronics prod- 
ucts using advanced audio/video 
technology." 

Random Bits 

Business Communications of Stam- 
ford, CT, forecasts 20% annual growth 
over the next five years in business 
microcomputers, 22% in peripherals, 
38% in maintenance, 41% in commu- 



nications, and 46% in software . . . 
AT&T claims its Unix System V is gain- 
ing support, particularly now that 
Microsoft has agreed to make its Unix- 
type system, Xenix, compatible with 
System V. Nevertheless, some software 
vendors are shying away from Unix be- 
cause of AT&T's recently announced 
more restrictive licensing policy . . . 
Like Eagle Computer, another troubled 
PC clone maker sees China as salvation: 
Tele Video Systems just signed an agree- 
ment with three Chinese companies to 
manufacture and market PC-compat- 
ible machines there . . . Looking for a 
winner in 32-bit Unix systems? Charles 
River Data Systems is shipping product 
and has just signed OEM deals with both 
Datapoint and Sord of Japan. Financial 
backers include EG&G, Analog De- 
vices, Meditech, and now Datapoint. 

Apple's fourth quarter earnings 
leaped nearly eightfold to a record $46. 1 
million on strong Christmas sales of the 
Apple II line . . . Also posting gains 
were IBM with a 1 7% earnings increase 
in the fourth quarter and DEC with a 
37% gain. On the other hand, Kaypro's 
profits plunged by 97% while Tandy's 
fell 24% . . . Coleco posted a fourth 
quarter loss estimated to be between $65 
and $80 million which it largely blames 
on the ill-fated Adam. The Odd Lot 
subsidiary of Revco reportedly bought 
Coleco's inventory of Adams; expected 
street price is below $300. Unbelievably, 
at CES Coleco privately showed a new 
computer said to be Apple compatible; 
development was said to be "close" to 
completion. 

Keeping track of the players depart- 
ment: Corona, a vendor of IBM PC 
clones, has a manufacturing agreement 
with Daewoo, the huge Korean con- 
glomerate. It also buys boards from 
Sanyo in Japan. On the other hand, Co- 
rona supplies finished computers to 
Sperry, Philips, and Docutel/Olivetti 
. . . MicroPro and the Ass'n of Data 
Processing Service Organizations 
(ADAPSO) have filed suit against the 
Wilson Jones unit of American Brands, 
alleging infringement and unauthorized 
copying of WordStar and other Micro- 



ijtfv^HI 


H 




The 

Terrapin 
Logo 

Language 



Beware of imitations. 



There's only one Logo that can lay claim to being the 
original. And that's Terrapin" Logo. 

Terrapin is the original Logo developed at the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology. It has been field-tested 
extensively. And it has been in use for over 10 years. 
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of satisfied Terra- 
pin Logo users. That's because over 100,000 copies of 
Terrapin's Logo for Apple and Commodore microcompu- 
ters are in use 

Terrapin Logo is simple. And powerful. So, whether it's 
college or kindergarten, Terrapin Logo is the ideal Logo. 

It's the best value your money can buy, too. For exam- 
ple, Terrapin is available for microcomputer networks, 
such as Corvus Omninet, PRO-NET and VIC-Switch. If 
you don't have access to networking, Terrapin Logo is 



available in money-saving 10- and20disk Terra-Paks 
for the Apple II family. 

Being the original Logo also means we support you. 
Whenever you want, you can speak with our technical 
staff about whatever you want. Plus, we publish frequent 
enhancements to Terrapin Logo, and our award-winning 
documentation. Which means you can be assured that 
Terrapin is always the best Logo available. 

To better understand why the original Logo is the 
best Logo, send for our free Reference Card. Or, if your 
school district has a microcomputer evaluation center, 
call for our special offer. 

Terrapin Logo. It encourages exploration. It encour- 
ages learning. It's fun. And it's the original that keeps 
getting better. 



Terrapin" 

The Original Logo People 

Terrapin, Inc., 222 Third Street 
Cambridge. MA 02142. (617) 492-8816 

CIRCLE 160 ON READER SERVICE CARD 

Iheie are Terrapin Logo versions lor the Apple II family ol microcomputers (with 64K RAM) and the Commodore 64 and Plus 4 

Terrapin Logo is a registered trademark ot Terrapin, Inc. Apple is a registered trademark ot Apple Computer. Inc 

Commodore and VIC are registered trademarks ol Commodore Electronics. Ltd 




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Pro software, ADAPSO originally an- 
nounced that four "top 50" companies 
would be named in the suit but only 
American Brands (#77) was named 
. . . Advertising Age named John Sculley 
of Apple, Adman of the Year . . . If you 
didn't watch the end of the Superbowl, 
you might have missed Apple's single 
commercial. It showed a long line of 
drably dressed men and women in single 
file singing, "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work 
we go," as they marched over the edge of 
a cliff. Apple hoped that viewers would 
make the connection with IBM. 

Analysts see the home computer 
market returning to more orderly 
growth in 1985. Infocorp projects 1985 
sales of 5.7 million units, up from 4.4 mil- 
lion in 1984 and 3.4 million in 1983 . . . 
Management Science America is appar- 
ently negotiating to sell Peachtrec Soft- 
ware to McGraw-Hill. Also for sale are 
MSA's Designware and Edu-Ware in 
which both CBS and Scholastic have ex- 
pressed interest ... A bankruptcy court 
judge has rejected a plan for HES to be 
acquired by Advant Garde after 
Microsoft and Spinnaker, two HES 
creditors, objected to the proposal 
. . . The NY Better Business Bureau has 
issued 1 5 challenges involving nearly 50 
misleading and fraudulent computer 
advertising claims. The BBB challenged 
such claims as "Save $700" and "50% 
off" and also questioned "reduced" price 
sales that never end. A booklet, "Tips on 
Buying a Home Computer" is available 
fora SASE from the BBB, 257 Park Ave. 
South, New York, NY 10010. 

On the horizon: A graphics entry 
device called Space Tablet which lets 
you draw in three-dimensional space 
. . . We hear that the top priority project 
at Pioneer is a writable videodisc for the 
home market . . . Peter Leppik, a 1 5- 
year-old hacker who had been accused of 
breaking into the computer files of a 
Minneapolis bank, recently helped po- 
lice crack the disk protection code on a 
sex offender's electronic diary. Peter 
claimed the bank break-in was 
"accidental." . . . Mother Jones' Son's 
Software Corp. has an unusual way to 
combat piracy. Its sales agreements state 
that if the buyer copies the program il- 
legally, "ownership of your eternal soul 
passes to us, and we have the right to 
negotiate the sale of said soul." The 
agreement adds, "Our attorneys will see 
to it that life on earth, as you know it, is 
completely ruined." . . . Immortalized? 
The on-board computer in the Star 
Fighter computer/videodisc game from 
Pioneer/ASCII is named the AHL-1. ■ 



CIRCLE 141 ON READER SERVICE CARD 




All Airlines Depart From ThbTerminal. 



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new Travelshopper, available now through 
CompuServe's Information Service. 

With Travelshopper, you can scan 
flight availabilities, discover airfare bar- 
gains and order tickets. . .on your own 
personal computer... at home or in the 
office. 

You also receive automatic member- 
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Besides Travelshopper, CompuServe 
offers an ever-growing list of other travel- 
oriented on-line services. 

The Official Airline Guide 
Electronic Edition lists direct and 
connecting flight schedules for over 700 
airlines worldwide plus over 500,000 
North American fares. 

Firstworld Travel offers worldwide 
travel advice and service. 

Discover Orlando provides complete 
prices, hours and features on all of 
Central Florida's attractions and 
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up-to-date information on immigration 



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PEOPLE 



Alan Bean 



Betsy Staples and John J. Anderson 




Former astronaut Alan Bean: fourth 
man to walk on the moon; lunar 
module pilot; spacecraft com- 
mander of Skylab II, a mission which 
logged a world record 24,400,000 miles 
in flight; a man with over 7000 hours of 
flight time in the air, in addition to over 
1 500 in space who has flown 27 different 
types of military aircraft as well as many 
civilian airplanes; arguably a man with 
plenty of the Right Stuff. He has access 
to just about any computer you can 
name, and probably to a few you cannot. 
What does he use computers for? 
"Not much," says the soft-spoken ex- 
Naval test pilot, with a Yeageresque 



twang. "They still can't do the things I 
want to use them for. As far as record- 
keeping goes, it's much easier to use a 
pencil and paper." I found myself agree- 
ing with him. "Someday," he continued, 
"one will come around with the power I 
need for my work, and then I'll snap it 
up. Until then, I'll use a paintbrush." 

Full-time artist Alan Bean: his work 
"Night Launch" hangs in the Smithso- 
nian; at his first one-man show, 75% of 
his paintings were sold within the first 30 
minutes; and virtually all of his work de- 
picts the space frontier. "In the long 
view, I hope I come to be seen the way 
Charles Russell and Frederick Reming- 
ton are viewed now — artists who experi- 
enced the frontier they painted. I'd like 
to be the artist who painted this genera- 



and the eye of an artist are very different 
things." 

Bean began studying drawing and 
painting in night school over 20 years 
ago while he was still a Navy test pilot. It 
remained a hobby until 1981, when he 
decided to devote himself to painting full 
time. "When I realized that most of us 
who actively participated in this in- 
credible adventure and could tell all the 
stories first-hand would be gone in less 
than 30 or 40 years, I began to realize 
that if any credible artistic impressions 
were to remain for future generations, I 
must paint them now." 

When will the artist move from 
acrylics on masonite to computer-gen- 
erated art? "When a hi-res micro can 
simply handle three-dimensional data 




tion's frontier, which, of course, is 
space." 

Why paint a subject that has been so 
thoroughly documented photographi- 
cally? "The moon photos were of course 
taken in very bright light. They lack the 
subtlety of color and sense of depth that I 
saw when I was there. I concentrate on 
these in my work. The lens of a camera 



structures, and allow me to position the 
background, subjects, and 'camera,' as it 
were, I will use it to compose paintings." 
Even then, however, he will rely on his 
trusty brushes. 

Bean is represented by Meredith 
Long and Co., 2323 San Felipe Rd., 
Houston, TX 77024. (713) 977-8186. 
His paintings start at about $4000. ■ 



lO CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



•™ 



Now your 
and AT can read 



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With the Oberon OMNI-READER'" — 
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Now you can transfer material directly 
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processing applications program. 

And because the OMNI-READER uses a 
standard RS232 serial port hookup, it interfaces 
easily with your computer. 

The technology is revolutionary. But what is 
most revolutionary is the price — under $500. IBM interface 
software, $50. 

Find out more about the Oberon OMNI- 
READER. Dial 800-2-OBERON. In Texas, (214) 446-9567. 



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Toshiba's P1340 printer generates 
consistent, fully formed characters 
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printers. Pay close attention to 
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lines. And note the smoothness of 
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Now you can make a great impression for under 
a grand. TheToshiba P1340 3-in-0ne printer. 



Toshiba has been a pioneer in printer tech- 
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others can only follow. Our P1340 printer is an 
impressive example-the first 3-in-0ne printer for 
less than $1,000 that provides high-speed, letter- 
quality copy, high-resolution graphics and an 
advanced 24-pin dot matrix print head. And at 
only $995, the Toshiba P1340 is priced well within 
your reach. 

Perfect impressions. Our unique high- 
density 24-pin dot matrix print head gives you 
sharp, clean results from any of the P1340's three 
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Impressive speed. You won't have to 
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Because the Toshiba P1340 gives you 
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An impressive eye for detail. The 

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CIRCLE 162 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



PEOPLE 



PROFILES 



Larry Jaclcel 



a 



Blue Ridge Summit, 
PA, a town of 300 
people, is the site of 
one of the most mod- 
ern book distribution 
centers in the coun- 
try. On January 15 ,^B Wi' 
TAB Books opened 
the 35,000 square 
foot center to house and process orders 
for its 800 "how to" technical titles in the 
computer, electronics, aviation, auto- 
motive, home repair, robotics, and gen- 
eral science fields. President Larry 
Jackel, who purchased the company five 
years ago, says he has never been 
tempted to move it to New York City 
where most of the country's large 
publishers are headquartered. He enjoys 
"the no hassle way of life," and claims 
that none of the publishing professionals 
he has imported from the big cities has 
ever left Blue Ridge Summit. "We work 
harder here," Jackel says. "Our business 
is run more intensely; there are fewer 



distractions, and we are in tune with the 
world." 



Arthur C. Clarke 

Arthur C. Clarke has 
decided not to wait 
until the twenty-first 
century — or even 
1985 — to take advan- 
tage of the electronic 
cottage. The noted 
science fiction writer 
used a Kaypro com- 
puter to communicate with director Pe- 
ter Hyams as the two collaborated on 
the screenplay of "2010." MGM's sequel 
to Clarke's "2001." For six months, the 
computers allowed Clark in Sri Lanka 
and Hyams in Hollywood to span 8000 
miles and 14 time zones, exchanging 
lengthy letters almost instantaneously. 
The entire Kaypro-to-Kaypro corres- 
pondence has been collected and will 
soon be published in a book called The 
Odyssey Files. 




Peter Payack 




His unusual poems 
are familiar to readers 
of early Creative 
Computing maga- 
zines. His ponytail 
and ever-present 
smile are familiar to 
visitors who have fre- 
quented Creative 
Computing booths at computer shows in 
Boston. Peter Payack, who once called 
himself an "underground poet," has sur- 
faced and even gone a bit commercial. 
His latest "concrete poem" is the Stone- 
henge Watch, a plastic pocketwatch case 
that opens to reveal a miniature, plas- 
ticized Stonehenge. For those whose 
knowledge of Druidic horology is less 
than complete, a user's manual is in- 
cluded for the $ 1 2.95 price of the watch. 
The watch, Payack's first successful 
commercial venture (the poetry anthol- 
ogy in fortune cookies never really 
caught on) is just one of the ways in 
which he has tried to make poetry acces- 
sible. Other media he has used include 
airplane wings, plants, buttons, and sub- 
way walls. ■ 



INTRODUCING THE SCOOTER MULTI-BUFFER 



Now One Printer 
Works Like Three. 




Multi-Buffer accepts 
data from up to three 
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The Pause Switch stops printout 

•Also available in 128K. 
256K and 512K models 




temporarily. Especially conven- 
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CIRCLE 138 ON READER SERVICE CARD 

VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4 CREATIVE COMPUTING 13 



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lands SideKick 
Software Product of theYear 



SideKick is InfoWorld Software Product of the Year. It won over 

Symphony. Over Framework. Over ALL the programs advertised in 

this magazine. Including, of course, all the "fly-by-night" SideKick 

imitations. SideKick Simply the best. 





Here's SideKick running over Lotus 1-2-3. In the SideKick 
Notepad you'll notice data that's been imported directly from 
""[ the Lotus screen. In the upper right you 
can see the SideKick Calculator 



"B33^sl 



Ail the SideKick windows stacked up over Lotus 1-2-3. From 
bottom to top: SideKick's "Menu Window", ASCII table. 
Notepad. Calculator. Appointment Scheduler/Calendar. 
and Phone Dialer Whether you're running WordStar, Lotus. 
dBase, or any other program, SideKick puts all these desktop 
accessories instantly at your fingertips 



SideKick 



s £oeo 



\ ? 



Crnmmu 



Jerry Pournelle, BYTE: "If you use a 
PC. get SideKick. You'll soon become 
dependent on it." 

Garry Ray, PC Week: "SideKick deserves 
a place in every PC." 
Charles Petzold. PC Magazine: "In a 
simple, beautiful implementation of Word- 
Star's block copy commands, SideKick 
can transport all or any part of the display 
screen (even an area overlaid by the notepad 
display) to the notepad." 
Dan Robinson, InfoWorld: "SideKick is a 
time-saving, frustration-saving bargain . . . . 




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cor* P«** ,ed 

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BOOK REVIEWS 



Careers, Logo, and the Marketplace 



Computer .' 
Literacy 
for Teachers: 

IQ WM . Q U—ttCI M , 

andConcams ." 



Russ Lockwood 

Computer Literacy for Teachers: Issues, 
Questions, and Concerns edited by John 
H. Tashner. The Oryx Press, 2214 N. 
Central at Encanto, Phoenix, AZ 85004. 
Softcover, 1 50 pages, $27.50 

This compendium 
of 26 articles by 
educators, edi- 
tors, and authors 
examines how teach- 
ers of grades K-12 
should approach the 
use of microcomput- 
ers in the classroom. 
It presents differing opinions on com- 
puter curricula and details examples of 
how schools are implementing computer 
education programs. 

The book leads off with a section 
discussing the influences, effects, and 
capabilities of computers in the class- 
room. Another section presents defi- 
nitions of computer literacy, and a third 
examines exemplary computer pro- 
grams from selected schools. Several 
appendices guide educators to numerous 
sources for more information. 

Despite the obscene pricetag, this 
book presents an anthology of interest- 
ing views on a controversial topic. 
Teachers facing the dilemmas of class- 
room computerization will reap great re- 
wards from this book. 

Beginner's Guide to Microprocessors by 
Charles M. Gilmore. Tab Books, Blue 
Ridge Summit, PA 1 7214. So ftcover, 
218 pages, $9.95 

This introductory 
text explains mi- 
croprocessor 
architecture, technol- 
ogy, and functions to 
the "uninitiated" 
electronics enthu- 
siast. It explains 
microprocessor pro- 
gramming concepts and touches on 
techniques for software documentation. 
The book starts with the develop- 
ment of the microprocessor, moves into 
a thorough explanation of the binary, oc- 
tal, and hexidecimal numbering sys- 
tems, and then examines the logic behind 
digital circuits. 




The book then del ves into the micro- 
processor programming instructions set, 
includingdata transfer, arithmetic, logic, 
branch, subroutine, and special com- 
mands. It reviews important characteris- 
tics of seven popular microprocessors — 
Intel 8051, 8085, and 8088/8086; Zilog 
Z80; MOS Technology 6502; and 
Motorola 6802 and 68000— and ends 
with suggestions for home experiments 
using microprocessors. 

Charles Gilmore stuffs a lot of 
information between the covers. Indeed, 
perhaps too much, for he sometimes 
overwhelms the novice with detail. Still, 
the informative text and multitude of di- 
agrams, circuit schematics, and other 
illustrations make the Beginner's Guide 
to Microprocessors an invaluable ref- 
erence. 

The Netweaver's Sourcebook by Dean 
Gengle. Addison-Wesley Publishing, 
Reading, MA 01867. Softcover, 326 
pages, $14.95 

Telecommunica- 
tions and local 
area networks 
(LAN) are hot topics 
in the microcomputer 
world. For those who 
have yet to discover 
theirconvenience, this 
book explains the con- 
cepts, terms, services, and potential ofmi- 
cro net working and communications. " 

Dean Gengle does a fine job of de- 
ciphering the technical jargon and 
providing advice on designing your own 
LAN or micro-to-mainframe links. 
However, he goes beyond the hardware, 
software, and services to delve into the 
psychological and sociological implica- 
tions of telecommunications. 

On occasion, the book lapses into 
philosophical musings, but for 
networking facts, from both the tech- 
nical and sociological viewpoints, The 
Netweaver's Sourcebook is an excep- 
tional introduction. 




Statistical Programs in Basic by Ronald 
D. Schwartz and David T. Basso. Reston 
Publishing, Reston, VA 22090. 
Softcover, 208 pages, $16.95 




Designed with 
the student in 
mind, this book 
provides step-by-step 
Basic programming 
instructions for solv- 
ing statistical prob- 
lems on a computer. 
It assumes you al- 
ready understand statistics, and presents 
a problem, the appropriate algorithm, a 
full listing of a program, and several 
example exercises. 

The "text" consists of rem state- 
ments within the programs, each 
explaining why a particular command is 
used. Topics include summation nota- 
tion, data analysis, probability, probabil- 
ity distributions, estimation theory, 
hypothesis testing, regression and 
correlation, analysis of variance, and 
nonparametric tests. 

Schwartz, a mathematics professor, 
and Basso, a manager of information 
systems development, provide a no-non- 
sense approach to statistics problem 
solving. 

1-2-3 Run by Robert and Lauren Flast. 
Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2600 Tenth 
Ave., Berkeley, CA 94710. Softcover, 
295 pages, $16.95 

Many Lotus 1- 
2-3 books tell 
you how to 
operate the program, 
in effect duplicating 
the manual. In con- 
trast, 1-2-3 Run pro- 
vides cover-to-cover 
Lotus 1-2-3 applica- 
tions — 41 of them — that you type into 
the program. 

The book divides into two sections. 
business applications and home applica- 
tions. Templates calculate cash flow 
analysis, accounting functions, sales 
summaries, expense logs, depreciation 
schedules, budgeting, and other finan- 
cial functions. 

If you want to use Lotus 1-2-3 for a 
variety of business and home applica- 
tions, take a close look at this book. It 
holds a minimum of fluff and a maxi- 
mum of practical information. 




16 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



TRAJECTORIES... 
A complete line of 
statistical software 
you can count 
upon to plot and 
project infinite 
solutions for 
today . ..and 
tomorrow. 



No matter where your research analy- 
sis takes you. TRAJECTORIES 
statistical software programs meet 
the needs of most statistical 
requirements. 

TRAJECTORIES SPS is a com- 
prehensive disk based statistical 
analysis package that puts you at the 
forefront of creative problem solving 
with descriptive statistics and plots, 
parametric and non-parametric cor- 
relations, regression analysis, cross 
tabs, multivariate analysis, homoge- 
neous and heterogeneous variances, 
plus much more. Retail price 
$395 00 

TRAJECTORIES TS enhances the 
Trajectories SPS package with Time 
Series Analysis which provides many 
fundamental transformations impor- 
tant to time series and forecasting 
statistical studies. Retail price 
$495.00. 

There s more TRAJECTORIES 
PLUS adds to TRAJECTORIES TS an 
integrated data base management 
system and applications generator 
and makes your computer a true 
helpmate. Retail price $595.00. 



TRAJECTORIES SPC1 puts the 
power of statistical process control 
at your fingertips. Designed by 
America's leading source for training 
in statistical techniques, the Amer- 
ican Supplier Institute, 
TRAJECTORIES SPCI is a package 
critical to quality control in any 
industry. Retail price $795.00. 

All TRAJECTORIES products are 
easy to use. disk based and menu 
driven programs and run on CP/M 
and MS DOS systems with a mini- 
mum of 128K memory. SPCI requires 
256K 

For the name of your nearest DBi 
dealer, or for more information 
about the TRAJECTORIES products, 
write DBi Software Products. One 
Energy Place. 5805 E. Pickard Rd.. 
Mt. Pleasant. MI 48858 or call 
1-800-221-3791. and in Michigan 
1-800-624-8122 




I Software Products 

Turning innovation into information. - 

CIRCLE 120 ON READER SERVICE CARD 




BOOK REVIEWS 



BOOK BRIEFS 



Careers 



High-Tech Career Strategies for 
Women by Joan R. Goldberg. Mac- 
Millan Publishing, 866 Third Ave., New 
York, NY 10022. Softcover, 290 pages, 
$9.95 

This mixture of advice and pep talk 
explores career opportunities for women 
in high-tech fields. It covers job descrip- 
tions, job-hunting, and climbing the cor- 
porate ladder. 

Careers in Computers by Texe W. 
Marrs. Simon and Schuster, 1230 Ave- 




Stonehenge; 5,000 years old and 
still ticking! And now you can 
own this faithful miniature repro- 
duction of Stonehenge encased in 
a full-sized pocket watehease. {2'/t" 
diam. in exquisite Silver tone finish). 

At last, you can predict an 
eclipse and tell the local time appar- 
ent with this beautiful pocket time 
piece Delight your more erudite 
friends and amaze your druid 
neighbors. 

Comes complete with a 64 
page instructional booklet by Peter 
Payack: "Stonehenge Unraveled!' 

r 

■ The Idea Works, Inc. 

J P.O. Box 208 IVquanncck, N| 07440 

| Please send me Stonehenge Watch 

■ @S12. o .Seach.Postaj«e&Handling + $1.50. 
[ Total Enclosed 

| Charge It: 1 1 MasterCard VISA 

I Acct.No. Exp. Date 

I Name 
I Address 



City 



State Zip 



THElDEAWMtKS 



I 

I 1 

18 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



nue of the Americas, New York, NY 
10020. Softcover, 1 52 pages, $8.95 

This job-hunting guide includes a 
good helping of common sense along 
with a lot of fluff. The best part is the list- 
ing of addresses of high-tech companies 
and support organizations. 

Resumes for Computer Professionals by 
Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D. and George 
Sadek. Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue 
of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. 
Softcover, 1 1 1 pages, $7.95 

Top-notch how-to book helps pro- 
fessionals write a more effective resume. 
It includes 30 sample resumes, several 
cover letters, and the "10 Don'ts of Re- 
sume Writing." Resumes/or Engineers is 
also available. 

Better Resumes for Computer Person- 
nel by Adele Lewis and Berl Hartman. 
Barron's Educational Series, 1 1 3 Cross- 
ways Park Dr., Woodbury, NY 11797. 
Softcover, 220 pages, $6.95 

Excellent how-to guide presents 
professionals with an abundance of tips 
and techniques for writing effective re- 
sumes and cover letters. 

Discover Your High Tech Talents by 
Barry and Linda Gale. Simon & 
Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 
New York, NY 10020. Softcover, 137 
pages, $8.95 

An aptitude test and capsule 
descriptions of 322 technical positions 
make up this superfluous book. 



Logo 



TI Logo by Harold Abelson. McGraw- 
Hill, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New 
York, NY 10020. Softcover, 246 pages, 
$17.95 

This book presents a potpourri of 
projects using Logo on the TI 99/4 and 
99/4a. 

Logo Fun by Pat Parker and Teresa Ken- 
nedy. Scholastic, 730 Broadway, New 
York, NY 10003. Softcover, 112 pages, 
$5.95 

This inexpensive yet versatile guide 
presents projects and variations for Ap- 
ple Logo, Terrapin/Krell Logo, Atari 
Logo, and TI Logo. 

Commodore Logo by H. J. Bailey, T. H. 
Doran, and K. M. Brautigam. Brady 
Communications, Bowie, MD 20715. 
Softcover, 288 pages, $14.95 

This introductory guide explores 
turtle graphics on the Commodore 64. 



Nudges: IBM Logo Projects by Steve 
Tips, Timothy Riorden, and Glen Bull. 
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 383 Madi- 
son Ave., New York, NY 10017. 
Softcover, 273 pages, $ 1 6.95. 

Colorful beginner's guide to Logo 
on the IBM PC and PCjr suggests a mul- 
titude of projects. 

Commodore 64 Tutor of Home and 
School by Julie Knott and Dave 
Prochnow. Scott, Foresman and Co., 
1900 E. Lake Ave., Glenview, IL 60025. 
Softcover, 209 pages, $ 1 5.95 

This handbook introduces Logo, 
Pilot, and Basic programming on the 
Commodore 64 to the beginner. It in- 
cludes three sprite graphics and music 
programs. 

Apple Logo: A Complete Illustrated 
Handbook by Drew Berentes. Tab 
Books, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214. 
Softcover, 376 pages, $ 1 3.95 

This comprehensive handbook 
helps you wring the most out of Logo 
and your Apple II. 

The Marketplace 

The Elements of Friendly Software De- 
sign by Paul Heckel. Warner Books, 666 
Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10019. 
Softcover, 205 pages, $8.95 

This eccentric little book provides 
30 practical principles for designing 
user-friendly software. 

How to Document Your Software by 
Barbara Spear. Tab Books, Blue Ridge 
Summit, PA 17214. Softcover, 201 
pages, $13.50 

This handbook guides pro- 
grammers in writing clear, organized 
manuals. It includes advice on preparing 
flow charts, block diagrams, and other 
graphics. 

1985 Programmer's Market edited by 
Brad M. McGehee. Writer's Digest 
Books, 9933 Alliance Rd., Cincinnati, 
OH 45242. Softcover, 343 pages, $16.95 
Glorious compilation of 700 micro- 
computer software publishers that use 
freelance material. 

How to Copyright Software by M. J. 

Salone. Nolo Press, 950 Parker St., 
Berkeley, CA 94710. Softcover, 256 
pages, $21.95 

This in valuable reference details the 
procedures for copyrighting your pro- 
grams and computer output. ■ 



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Parents, 

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answer those, right? 
Mom and Dad might 
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the answers. 

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4. Press the button 
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Microsoft" Multiplan" and Microsoft Chart. 
They're crackerjack programs working on their 
own. But you should see this pair in action 
together on the Macintosh™ 

The one, a spreadsheet of dazzling analytical 
power and graceful simplicity. 

The other, a picture perfect charting program 
that makes rows and columns of numbers graphi- 
cally clear. 

And the beauty is, they were literally made for 
each other. And for Macintosh. 

Multiplan accepts you as you are* 

Multiplan takes full advantage of Macs simple, 
intuitive operating style. So you can work in a 
way that will come natural to you. 

You don't have to memorize any arcane 
commands. Just point and click the mouse 
to move mountains of figures and for- 
mulas quickly and painlessly. 

In addition, Multiplan gives you 
features that make hard copies gratify- 
ingly readable. For instance, the enviable | 
ability to print sideways. 




^^ 



So you can't run out of column room. No matter how wide your spreadsheet gets. 

Chart makes people see what you mean* 

Microsoft Chart gives you lots of ammunition for your arguments: Pie charts, bar 
charts, line, column, area and scatter charts. Or combinations. 

Kyilf^D^^C^^ET' Pick the one that best illustrates your point. 
IVIIv^li^#Ov^l l®^ Then translate your numbers into pictures and 
The High Performance Software'" have them on paper in a matter ofmoments. 
Using the mouse, it's a cinch to fine tune the graphs to get exactly what you want. 
Move any section. Change its size, shape, or highlight it. 

Chart can even be linked with Multiplan. So any change on your spreadsheet will 
show up automatically on the charts. 



answer, , . 
own conclusions. 




We get the max out of Mac 

It figures that we'd be the ones to make Mac work 
so well with figures. We've written more Macintosh 

programs than any other software company. Includ- 
K ing Microsoft Word, Microsoft File. And Microsoft 
BASIC, Mac's first language. 

That experience shows in programs which 
not only exploit all of Mac's unique features, 
but make it extraordinarily capable 
and productive. 

In addition, all of Microsoft's 
Macintosh products can exchange 
data with each other. 

And because our 
programs work alike, 
" you learn one, you're 




well on your way to learning the rest. 

To find the name of your nearest Microsoft dealer, call (800) 426-9400. 
In Washington State, Alaska, Hawaii and Canada, call (206) 828-8088. 

Then check out Multiplan and Microsoft 
Chart. And watch them perform some 
nice little numbers. 



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CIRCLE 133 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



IN REAL TIME 

From sewing machines to space shuttles 



Russ Lockwood 



Most people recognize Singer 
as a manufacturer of sewing 
machines — not exactly hi-tech 
devices — yet some of Singer's less-publi- 
cized divisions design and manufacture a 
variety of high-technology products for 
the aerospace industry. Link Flight 
Simulation, which builds flight simu- 
lators, and Kearfott, which builds 
navigation and guidance systems, are 
not exactly household names, yet their 
products are crucial to the success of the 
Space Shuttle, Trident missile, B-l 
bomber, F-16 fighter, Boeing 757 and 
767, and numerous other civil and mili- 
tary aviation and aerospace projects. 

Most aerospace companies, Link 
and Kearfott included, use mainframes 
and minicomputers for their program- 
ming, design, and engineering work. 
Microcomputers perform the more tra- 
ditional office functions: word process- 
ing, spreadsheet analysis, and database 
management. However, Link and 
Kearfott are beginning to explore cre- 
ative ways of applying the micro- 
computer to engineering problem 
solving. 

The managers and task supervisors 
to whom we spoke at Link and Kearfott 
are enthusiastic about using micro- 
computers for engineering applications. 
They cite cost effectiveness over minis 
and mainframes and ease of use as 
specific advantages. 

The latter reason is especially im- 
portant. Austin Maher, Kearfott direc- 
tor for computer software engineering, 
points out that microcomputer operat- 
ing systems are usually friendlier than 
their mainframe counterparts. En- 
gineers can concentrate on solving prob- 
lems rather than learning complicated 
command structures. 

Another advantage is security. 
Russ Pepe, Link director of information 
resources, notes that many people have 
access to a mainframe, but a micro- 
computer can be physically isolated 
from unauthorized users. 

The PC to Cessna Link 

Link boasts that it is the leading 
manufacturer of flight simulators in the 
world. Indeed, its product list reads like 




The single engine night simulator from Link. 
The student sits in the cockpit at left and Mm 
instructor controls from the IBM PC 




figure 1. "An" Lockwood's erratic, but 



a what's what in aviation: Space Shuttle, 
F-16 fighter, Boeing 767, B-52 bomber, 
Learjet, and AH-64 attack helicopter to 
name a few. These are top-of-the-line, 
mult imillion dollar units with sharp 
mainframe and microprocessor-based 
visual systems. They precisely duplicate 
aircraft controls, including the ability to 
swivel and tilt in response to pilot 
actions. 

On a more modest level, the newest 
flight simulator in the Link catalog 
mimics single engine airplanes. It fea- 
tures a fully instrumented cockpit, a vi- 
sual system that operates roughly like a 
projection television, and a separate 
instructor station. The instructor sta- 
tion consists of an off-the-shelf IBM PC, 
joystick, Quadram Quadchrome RGB 
monitor, and Epson printer, hooked into 
an Aydin Graphics terminal. 

The hard disk holds a database of 
maps, which can be edited to localize 
weather conditions and geography. The 
areas are stored using longitude and lati- 



tude coordinates. Project engineer Dave 
Tripp brags that the system can simulate 
any area in the world down to three- 
quarters of an inch. 

As the student pilots the simulator, 
the instructor monitors the flight on the 
IBM PC The instructor can introduce 
variables, such as nightfall, inclement 
weather conditons, and equipment mal- 
functions. The effects are faithfully re- 
produced in the cockpit and on the 
screen. 

The keyboard of the IBM PC has 
custom keycovers with commands 
printed directly on them. The instructor 
merely presses a key to induce a change 
or begin a function. The programs are 
written in compiled Fortran with some 
assembly subroutines. 

An especially nifty feature is called 
"snapshot." The instructor freezes a 
particular situation, such as a landing 
approach, with the snapshot function. 
Then, each time he presses the snapshot 
key, the student starts the simulation in 
that situation. 

The joystick allows the instructor to 
change the position of the aircraft. To 
continue the example above, the instruc- 
tor can call up the landing situation with 
the snapshot key and then change the 
heading of the aircraft with the joystick 
to simulate a different approach to the 
airport. 

A printout (see Figure 1) from the 
Epson printer shows how the student 
fared in the simulation. The graphs dis- 
play an optimum landing approach (cen- 
ter line) and acceptable limits (lines to 
either side of the center line). A dotted 
line indicates the student's actual 
approach. 

A special combat simulation, be- 
tween a student-controlled single engine 
plane and a computer-controlled F-18 
jet fighter, is available (see sidebar). Yes, 
they did cripple the jet so it would not fly 
rings around the propeller-driven plane. 

Potpourri of Applications 

Kearfott is using microcomputers 
to help with engineering research on fi- 
ber optics networks, automatic data 
collection, and robotics. 

Staff Engineer Michael Sot tile is us- 



(2 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



lig 


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imul 


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Put yourself in the pilots seat of a Piper 181 Cherokee Archer for an awe-inspiring flight over realistic scene 
from New York to Los Angeles. High speed color-filled 3D graphics will give you a beautiful panoramic view 
as you practice takeoffs, landings, and aerobatics. Complete documentation will get you airborne quickly 
even if you've never flown before. When you think you're ready, you can play the World War I Ace aerial battle 
game. Flight Simulator II features include ■ animated color 3D graphics ■ day, dusk, and night flying modes 
■ over 80 airports in four scenery areas: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, with additional scenery 
areas available ■ user-variable weather, from clear blue skies to grey cloudy conditions ■ complete flight 
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IN REALTIME 



ing a trio of IBM PC ATs to create a 
multiplex data communciations net- 
work using fiber optics. Multiplex net- 
works with regular wires and cables are 
already used to interconnect work- 
stations in the Space Shuttle and aircraft. 
Fiber optics will increase the speed and 
accuracy of communications. 

Sottile chose the PC AT over other 
microcomputers because of its expand- 
ability, microprocessor speed, and IBM 
product longevity. The three micro- 
computers cost less than building a dedi- 
cated network from scratch — especially 
since no standards exist for 100MHz fi- 
ber optic communication networks. 

The fiber optics cables attach to cus- 
tom-made expansion boards (optical 
transmitters and receivers) that plug 
into the IBM PC ATs. Each computer 
has 256K RAM and uses the PC-DOS 
operating system. The input/output 
programming is done in assembly lan- 
guage; the main program in compiled 
Basic or Pascal. 

Task Supervisor Frank Tamaro 
uses an IBM PC XT to collect and an- 
alyze test results of inert ial navigation 
systems. Previously, a person collected 
1 6 sets of data by hand and then punched 
the numbers into a calculator. 

The navigation systems plug into 
dedicated test equipment, which is con- 
nected by cable to a custom-made expan- 
sion board in the PC XT. As the test 
equipment generates signals, the com- 
puter stores the data on the hard disk and 
performs the necessary calculations. A 
printer makes a hard copy. 

Tamaro notes that the PC XT 
speeds up data analysis while saving 
many man hours of effort. It does not 
take coffee breaks and can collect data 
overnight during extended testing peri- 
ods. Since the test results come back 
quicker, engineers can react faster to 
potential design problems. 

Task Supervisor Herbert Rogall 
uses an Apple II Plus for robotics re- 
search and training. The computer con- 
nects to a commercially-available 
Microbot Inc. Mini Mover 5 robot arm. 
Applesoft Basic programs control the 
arm. 

In our demonstration, Rogall 
maneuvered the arm to stack three 
wooden blocks according to size. The 
computer stored the commands. Rogall 
then reset the blocks in their original po- 
sitions. With the press of a button, the 
arm grabbed and restacked the blocks. 

This apparently simple operation, 
picking up and placing objects, is the 
most common application of robotics, 




The Apple-powered robot 



according to Rogall. Lessons learned on 
the Apple-controlled robot arm can be 
transferred to larger factory robots. 

One for the Lawyers 

According to some software compa- 
nies, corporations are a hotbed of soft- 
ware piracy. Lotus Corp., for example, 
sued Rixon Inc. and Health Group Inc. 
for copying and distributing Lotus 1-2-3 
programs within their organizations. 

Gus Raso, Kearfott manager of 
computer applications planning, who 
devised an anti-piracy program for the 
controller's office, contends that aggres- 
sive management practices are needed to 
protect the integrity of the division's 
data and equipment and to comply with 
the copyright laws. Under his plan, each 
floppy disk carries a copyright warning 
and a control number. In essence, the 
warning reinforces the idea that the pro- 
gram belongs to Lotus and data generated 
with the program belong to Kearfott. 
Spot checks are made to confirm that 
disks are where they belong. 



Ace Flies Again 

I've flown against Fokkers in 
Microsoft Flight Simulator and 
MiGs in MicroProse F-15 Strike Ea- 
gle, but neither prepared me for this 
mission on a Link simulator. Without 
radar or a wingman, I must shoot 
down an advanced F- 18 jet fighter — 
with a single engine Cessna airplane. 

Even worse, I am in a replica of a 
real cockpit, with yoke, throttle, rud- 
der pedals, and a myriad of dials. This 
is certainly a far cry from a set of 
cursor keys or a joystick. 

With blue skies above and green 
fields below, the engine drones on as I 
crisscross no man's land. Suddenly, a 
flicker of light catches my eye — 



Requiem for a Mainframe? 

The trickle of microcomputers into 
the engineering labs of Kearfott and 
Link by no means marks the demise of 
the mainframe or the mini. High-tech- 
nology products such as ring laser gyros 
and digital imaging systems require the 
speed, storage, and central location of a 
large computer. 

However, progressive companies 
like Singer are learning that increases in 
computing power allow selected, hard- 
core engineering projects to be run on 
microcomputers. They find that use of 
personal computers results in large 
personnel productivity gains and that 
the smaller outlays for hardware are very 
cost-effective. 

Thus, while traditional word 
processing, spreadsheet, and database 
functions continue to account for most 
microcomputer usage, creative en- 
gineers are capturing the power of the 
microcomputer for innovative engineer- 
ing applications. If their enthusiasm for 
these machines is any indication, more 
and more microcomputers will soon find 
homes in engineering departments. 

Incidentally, since this is our educa- 
tion issue, we asked what sort of career 
opportunities were available. Kearfott (1 
Hughes PL, Little Falls, NJ 07424) and 
Link (Binghampton, NY 13902), we 
were told, are always on the lookout for 
bright programmers and engineers. Half 
their employees fall into the engineering 
category, and a quick glance at salaries, 
benefits, and expansion plans indicates a 
thriving company. The Personnel 
Departments will be more than happy to 
look at resumes from Creative Comput- 
ing readers. ■ 



sunlight reflecting off an F- 1 8 — and a 
spurt of adrenalin jolts me into 
action. 

I throw the plane into a diving 
corkscrew. As I pull out, the tail 
of the F- 1 8 appears just ahead of me. 

I stalk him. Like a shadow I stalk 
him, all the while lining up the cross- 
hairs on his tail. I fire. The rocket 
streaks toward the target, but the red 
glare comes from my eyes as the 
rocket explodes below the enemy. I 
yank back the yoke, pulling up the 
nose of my aircraft, and fire again. 
The rocket arcs toward the plane. My 
eyes trace its path. The enemy starts 
to turn. And in that brief instant of 
achievement, when time stands still, 
the rocket destroys the intruder. 

Thumbs up. Mission complete. 



24 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



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Step beyond the limits of personal computing, and through the doors of the world's finesl 
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CIRCLE 110 ON READER SERVICE CARD 




TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
TALK 



The Reader's Guide goes electronic 
Corey Sandler 



As a writer, I've had a lifelong love 
affair with words and books and 
magazines. The perfume of my 
youth was the musty odor of the back- 
shelves of libraries. 

There were rainy Saturdays when I 
would read the encyclopedia for enter- 
tainment, or browse through the New 
York Times Index for 1 938, or pore over 
the latest newsprint edition of the Read- 
er's Guide to Periodical Literature. By 
age 1 3 or so, I was on intimate terms with 
both the Dewey Decimal System and the 
batting averages of the entire Los An- 
geles Dodgers roster. 

(In adulthood, I fulfilled one of my 
deepest fantasies when I dated the chil- 
dren's librarian in the town where I was 
working. And I can still remember the 
unknowing jealousy I saw in the eyes of 
some of the fourth graders when I came 
to pick up L.S. after work.) 

And now I am a writer in a world 
where most of my words are created 
without benefit of paper, and where 
some of them never make contact with 
printer's ink. There's a certain loss of 
tangible accomplishment when all that I 
can show for a day's work is four entries 
in my MCI mailbox. Sometimes I make 
printouts just so I can have something to 
point to. 

However, the electronic world 
works both ways. (Full duplex, you 
might say.) More and more of the 
world's stored intelligence is becoming 
accessible to computer users at work and 
home. I can consult hundreds of news- 
letters over NewsNet; I can read from 
thousands of technical papers and jour- 
nals on BRS; I can look up a term or a 
name in an encyclopedia on The Source, 
and I can find out everything I ever 
wanted to know about a company's fi- 
nances from Dow Jones. 

And now my old friend the Reader's 
Guide to Periodical Literature has joined 
the electronic world. Publisher H.W. 



Wilson Company, one of the hoary vet- 
erans of database technologies (they 
called them indexes way back when) has 
put the Reader's Guide and 1 1 of its other 
offerings on the computer. 

H.W. Wilson is the descendant of 
the lifelong work of one Halsey William 
Wilson, who was, according to The Sat- 
urday Review, to "bibliography what 
Webster is to dictionaries, Bartlett to 
quotations." 



H, 



I alsey William Wilson was 
to "bibliography what Webster 
is to dictionaries, Bartlett to 
quotations." 



Old H.W. started his company in 
1889 at the University of Minnesota, 
when he and his roommate bought a 
printing press and began printing syllabi 
for professors and selling books. The 
small business developed into a book- 
store, and Wilson determined that his 
biggest problem in serving his customers 
was the lack of a database (err, index) of 
available books and publishers. 

In 1898, Wilson began publishing a 
monthly listing of new and recent books, 
calling it the Cumulative Book Index. 
Entries were listed by author, subject, 
and title in the same index, an organiza- 
tion that was unique at the time. Wilson 
also found a way to update his database 
quickly. Since entries consisted of lines 
of metal type, Wilson treated each line as 
if it were a card in a library catalog. New 
entries were inserted among the earlier 
lines of type. 

The CBI was a success, selling a 
respectable 300 copies at $1 each in its 
first year. 



Librarians also began to sign up, 
and in 1901, Wilson added the first issue 
of Reader's Guide to Periodical Lit- 
erature, indexing seven magazines. 

One policy started by Wilson and 
continued to this day involves a spread- 
ing of the economic burden among li- 
braries large and small, rich and poor. 
Clients were billed on the basis of the 
amount of use a library could make of a 
publication. Larger libraries paid more, 
in other words. 

In November of 1984, Wilson's 
company went electronic with Wil- 
sonline. When last I checked, they were 
offering the following indexes on line: 

• Applied Science and Technology 
Index, indexing every article in 336 
periodicals on aeronautics, space sci- 
ence, chemistry, energy, engineering, 
marine technology, meteorology, petro- 
leum and gas, physics, robotics, tele- 
communications and more; 

• Biological and Agricultural In- 
dex, with listings from 204 English-lan- 
guage publications in life sciences with 
coverage of agriculture, animal hus- 
bandry, biology, botany, genetics, cytol- 
ogy, zoology and more; 

• Business Periodicals Index, 
indexing 304 publications; 

• Book Review Digest, with ex- 
cerpts from and citations to more than 
6000 reviews of current adult and ju- 
venile fiction and non-fiction each year; 

• Cumulative Book Index, with list- 
ings of between 50,000 and 60,000 books 
each year with full library information 
including author, title, subtitle, subject, 
cross-reference, illustrator, price, pub- 
lisher, and other information; 

• Education Index, covering 354 pe- 
riodicals, yearbooks, and monographs; 

• Index to Legal Periodicals, index- 
ing 476 different legal journals, with au- 
thor, bibliographic, and subject entries, 
and subdivisions for topical and geo- 
graphical categories; 



28 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



MQ 

MCI Mail 



Western 
Union 

EasyLink '" 



The Source 

SourceMail 




Which electronic mail 

service delivers much moie 

than mail? 



Every one of these 
electronic mail services 
does a very good job of 
delivering the mail. 

But only one delivers 
so many more online ser- 
vices with equal expertise. 

The Source. 

With The Source, you 
can have the daily news 
delivered along with your 
daily mail. Make airline 
reservations. Trade stocks. 
Hold a computer confer- 
ence. Communicate with 
thousands of people who 
share your interests. 

Even get the latest 
word on new hardware 
and software products, in 
seconds. 

All this, and more, 
along with the electronic 
mail service called "the 
most powerful available 
anywhere." 

Andallforjust$49.95, 



plus reasonable hourly 
usage fees. 

Call 800-336-3366* 
and you can have the 
power of The Source 
working for you in a mat- 
ter of minutes. 

Or for more informa- 
tion, visit your nearest 
computer dealer or mail 
the coupon below. 

Please send me mote details about The Source. 



Name 



Telephone P 



Address 



City 
D 



State Zip 



D I own a personal computer 
yes no 
Mail to: Source Telecomputing Corp. 

1616 Anderson Road 

McLean, VA 22102 



7814710 




The most powerful resource 
any personal computer can have. 

IHc Source ■■ lenace m.irk ol Source Tdecomputiaii 
Corporation. ■ mtnidlao of rhe Reader** Discs) Association. 
Inc. I he source services are offered in participation 
with Control Data * orporation I Sonne TclecomputinM 
Corporation. 1985 MCI Mail i» a service mart ol MCI 
CornmuntcalronsCorp. Easy! ink ia a service mark or 
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CHAT Interactive 

( ommunicationt 

NF.WS\ INFORMATION 
News Bulletins 
l/PI News Service 

Associated Press 
Scripps-Howard News 

Senice 
AccifWeather™ 
The Washington Post 

Electronic Edition 

Sports 

BYLINES Feature News 

1NVF.STORSFRVICIS 
Portfolio Management 
Delayed Stock Quotes 

Real-Time Stock Quotes 
Spear Securities Online 

Trading 
Media General 

STOCKY! I 
Donoghue Investment 

Newsletter 
INVEST! XI Research 

Reports 

Management C 'ontents 

Publication Abstracts 
Employment Services 

I WIS TOX Market Reports 

Commodity World Sews 
BIZDATE Business 
Magazine 

PIRSONAI COMPUTING 
MICROS/ ARCH'" 

Hardware. Software 

Reviews 
Member Directory 
POST Bulletin Hoards 
Member Publications 

TRAM 1 SI RVICKS 
Official Airline Guide 

A-Z Worldwide Hotel Cmide 
Travel, Hotel Tickets 

<V Reservations 
Restaurant Guides 
Travel Tips. Tours 

SHOPPING M.FISURR 
Movie Reviews 
Comp-u-store Electronic 
Shopping 

dames. Educational Quizzes 



CIRCLE 157 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



TELECOMMUNICATIONS TALK 



• Readers' Guide to Periodical Lit- 
erature, including 1 86 magazines, Cre- 
ative Computing among them; 

• Library of Congress/M ARC; 

• Journal Directory File; 

• Publisher's Directory File, and 

• Name Authority File. 

The database searching procedures 



for Wilsonline are quite complete, and a 
bit complex. Searches can include Bool- 
ean Operators (and, or, and not); various 
truncation symbols for wildcard 
searches, and searching using qualifiers 
based on more than 25 elements of list- 
ings. For example, books can be 
searched on the basis of the author's 




Data Defenders by Ring 
King. They're the finest quality 
protection you can buy for the 
information you have stored 
on 5Va" mini-diskettes and 
printout. 

The Ring King 070 Tray holds 
70 mini-diskettes in a tough 
copolymer shell with security 
lock. The Ring King Flip File II 
binder holds 20 mini-diskettes 
and converts to a desktop 
index. Ring King Looseleaf Files 
are punched to fit standard 3- 



ring binders. Ring King Data 
Binders hold up to 8" of 9V2"x 
II "or I W x II" unburst 
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Ask for Ring King Data Defen- 
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CIRCLE 177 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



name, the ISBN number, the Library of 
Congress number, the Dewey Decimal 
number, the publisher's name, and other 
categories. 

In coming months, the rest of the 
Wilson indexes will come on line: Art In- 
dex; Bibliographic Index; Biography In- 
dex; General Science Index; Humanities 
Index; Library Literature, and Social 
Sciences Index. 

As mentioned, old H.W. would feel 
right at home looking at the pricing 
schedule for Wilsonline; many libraries 
would also understand it right away. It 
took a mere mortal like me a bit of time, 
but basically the schedule has four dif- 
ferent classes of subscription and ten dis- 
count rates. 

The lowest charge — from $32 to 
$50 per hour, depending upon which in- 
dex is being consulted — goes to institu- 
tions or individuals who are already 
subscribers to the printed index being 
searched. The highest rate, $65 per hour, 
is charged to non-subscribers to any Wil- 
son product. You can bring down the 
price by paying into an account in ad- 
vance of use — putting $2400 down drops 
most rates by as much as $10 per hour. 
Access to Wilsonline is through Tymnet 
or Telenet, and any capable telecommu- 
nications program should work. Expect 
to pay an additional $8 or so per hour for 
telecommunications. 

Wilsonline maintains a toll-free 
phone number for information about its 
services. The number is (800) 367-6770. 
In New York State, call (800) 462-6060. 
The mailing address is: H.W. Wilson 
CO., 950 University Ave., Bronx, NY 
10452. ■ 




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BUSINESS/PERSONAL 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



A truly portable MS-DOS computer from 
one of the oldest companies in the field 



Morrow Pivot 



David H.Ahl 



The Morrow Pivot is a compact, to- 
tally portable MS-DOS computer 
with single or dual 5 1/4" floppy 
disk drives, 16-line LCD display, built- 
in modem, and serial and parallel ports. 
Both the user interface and manuals — 
particularly the Owner's Handbook — 
are exceptionally friendly, reflecting in 
large part the friendly but no-nonsense 
attitude of company founder and presi- 
dent, George Morrow. 

On the opening page of the Owner's 
Handbook, we read, "If you're someone 
who holds manuals in contempt as a 
matter of principle, at least familiarize 
yourself with thecontents of the first sec- 
tion. It's short, and there are lots of pic- 
tures." With an opening like that, how 
can Pivot miss? 

What You See 

In contrast to the almost universal 
use of light beige or gray on computers 
today, the Pivot is an ominous flat black. 
An adjustable black carrying strap 
hooks to the top so you can more easily 
heft this 9.5 lb. unit. It measures 13* 
wide by 9.5" high and 5.6" in depth 
closed or 13" open (keyboard folded 
down). 

On the left side, we find a battery 
pack compartment, on/off switch, AC 
adapter connector, and LCD viewing 
angle dial. On the back are a serial RS- 
232 connector, parallel printer connec- 
tor, and modular phone jack. The right 
side houses one or two disk drives. The 
AC adapter is not one of those little 9- 
volt battery eliminators, but an indus- 
trial duty (15 volt, 2.5 amp) power 
supply about the size of a small cigar box. 
The rechargeable battery pack itself is 
also a monster, although that is to be ex- 
pected for a battery that will be powering 
one or two 5 1/4" disk drives. Battery life 
is said to be about four hours (depending 
upon use of the disk drives) and recharge 
time is eight hours. 

The keyboard has 62 full-stroke 
keys. The action and feel of the keys are 





$y 



Hardware Profile 



■: Morrow Pivot Typo: Portable computer CPU: 80C86, 3.33 MHz 
RAM: 1 28K expandable to 640K Ports: Parallel, serial, telephone 
Keyboard: 66 keys, 1 4 pressure sensitive function/icon keys 
Display: LCD, 1 6 lines x 80 characters; 480 x 1 28 pixels 
Disk Drives: One (or two) 5 1 /4", 360K Modem: 300 baud direct connect 
Battery: Rechargeable, four-hour life Dimensions: 1 3" x 9.5" x 5.6" , 9.5 lbs. 
Documentation: Six user's guides and manuals Operating System: MS-DOS 
t — *■< Software: MS-DOS and Utilities, NewWord 
Summary: Truly portable MS-DOS computer with 5 1/4" disk drive and modem; 

operating system overlaid with several nifty extras. 
Price: 1 28K, 1 drive $1995; 256K, 2 drives $2895; 640K, 2 drives $3695 
Manufacturer: Morrow 

600 McCormick St. 

San Leandro, CA 94577 

(415)430-1970 



32 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Fast Cash For Your 
Slow Modern^ 



M^ 



<*s** 



„>■ ],o- 




3O0n 



During Hayes Modem Tirade-Up Days 
Now through April 30, 19S5 



If your old modem is costing you too much in time 
and telephone charges, now's the time to trade up 
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Smartmodem I200B' M (plug-in board modem for 
the IBM PC and compatibles). 

Cash saving rebate* During Hayes Modem 
Trade-Up Days, bring in your old modem (any 
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Hayes will send you a cash rebate when you pur- 
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Remember. Our modem trade-up offer is only 
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So call today. 



Haves 

Innovative "/products 
for enterprising people 



Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc. 

5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. 
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• The promotion l> ...liable only thrown partklpetln. dealer. In the US and Cnad. Pte«* alio. 4 lo 6 week. deVWy lor rebate check Smartrr«xJerr, 1200 and Smartmodem IKKJB are trademark, of 
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CIRCLE 125 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



BUSINESS/PERSONAL 



virtually identical to the Model 100. 
Also like the Model 100, the keyboard 
lies practically flat; we had no trouble 
typing on it, but people who like a slop- 
ing keyboard will not be enamored of it. 
Because there are fewer keys than many 
other MS-DOS machines boast, many of 
the keys on the Pivot do double duty 
when coupled with the shift or con- 
trol key. 

Above the keyboard is a touch panel 
with ten function control keys (Fl to 
F10) and four icon keys. These icon keys 
are unique to the Pivot, and most of them 
function without booting a disk or MS- 
DOS. When you turn the computer on, 
the display shows a calendar page with 
the date and time on the left and a world 
map on the right. If you are working on 
something else, the Clock/Calendar 
icon will return you to this opening dis- 
play. From it you can check the time in a 
foreign time zone — a handy thing for 
that occasional phone call to Europe or 
Tokyo. 

The Modem icon turns the Pivot 
into a terminal for calling databases like 
The Source and CompuServe or other 
computers. After you enter a phone 
number, the Pivot dials it automatically. 
The Calculator icon activates a ten- 
key calculator, the display of which pops 
up in a window to the left or right of the 
screen. This is a four-function, 16-digit 
calculator with a few added goodies 
(compared with a pocket calculator). 
For example, you can set the number of 
decimal places, you can ask for rounded 
or truncated answers, and you can swap 
the sign of an entry. 

The Diskette icon will automati- 
cally boot a disk. It is also used to return 
to a disk-based program from the 
clock/calendar or calculator mode of 
operation. Another use of this function 
key is to scroll the display — a feature re- 
quired when you use software designed 
for a 25-line display on the 16-line dis- 
play of the Pivot. Essentially, the 16-line 
display becomes a window on the full- 
screen 25-line display. 

Speaking of the display, it measures 
9" x 2.4" , a much higher width to height 
ratio than a standard CRT. Characters 
are formed within a 5 x 7 pixel matrix 
with one pixel between letters hori- 
zontally and vertically.- Descenders on 
five lowercase letters occupy the hori- 
zontal space, a common practice on 
LCD screens but one that definitely does 
not enhance readability. For graphics, a 
matrix of 480 x 128 pixels is dot 
addressable. 

The front bezel is scored for a 25 line 



x 80character LCDscreen, and the man- 
ual mentions it in several places. 
Presumably it is coming in the future, 
but for now only 16-line models are be- 
ing delivered. 

The LCD screen has a fixed tilt of 20 
degrees, satisfactory for some room 
lighting conditions, but not others. We 
eventually propped the front of our Pivot 
on a book to give the screen a tilt of 32 or 
so degrees which we found a consid- 
erable improvement. We understand 
from Morrow that in the future the Pivot 
will be shipped with a backlighted 



M, 



lonrow is not a giant in 
the industry, but it is a sensibly 
managed company that has 
managed to survive for 
ten years. 



screen. This should lead to excellent 
legibility at the standard tilt angle. 

What You Don't See 

The heart of the Pivot is an 80C86 
CMOS true 16-bit microprocessor 
operating at 3.33 MHz. It ran our stan- 
dard Basic benchmark in 26 seconds — 
about 30% slower than desktop PC 
clones running at a clock speed of 4.77 
MHz. 

The basic Pivot is equipped with 
128K of RAM and can be expanded to 
640K. Internal ROM, which includes 
the icon software, is I6K. A small por- 
tion of the RAM (up to 16K) which con- 
tains the time of day, date, appointment 
calendar, and phone directory is perma- 
nently backed up with a small built-in 
battery said to have a two-year life. 

The double sided, double density 
disks are formatted to the nine sector- 
per-track IBM standard and hold 360K 
each. 

The Pivot comes with a 300 baud, 
auto dial, direct connect modem built in. 
If you want more speed (1200 or 2400 
baud), the serial port is configured for 
connection to an external modem. The 
Pivot software cannot handle an ex- 
ternal modem for file transfer; the man- 
ual advises buying a separate software 
package such as Crosstalk or a modem/ 
software package combination. 



What You Get 

The Pivot comes in a big box which 
contains, in addition to the computer it- 
self, MS-DOS and NewWord disks, a 
1 78-page Owner's Handbook, a Micro- 
soft MS-DOS User's Guide and Pro- 
grammer's Reference (a rare inclusion 
— great for systems programmers, 
meaningless to end users), a Microsoft 
Debug Utility manual, a monster (400+ 
pages) NewWord User's Guide and 55- 
page supplement, a four-page instruc- 
tion sheet on how to set up Lotus 1-2-3 
for the Pivot, and a free membership 
form for the on-line Official Airline 
Guide (saves $50). 

The version of MS-DOS included 
with the Pivot is 2. 1 1 . The disk includes 
16 utility programs such as Diskcopy, 
Link, and Format. We found we could 
also load standard IBM PC-DOS and 
MS-DOS (Compaq flavor) but not 
everything would work correctly; thus 
we recommend you stick with the fur- 
nished disk. 

We had problems running several 
PC packages, some because of the 16- 
line display. Others such as Electric Pen- 
cil (which has run on every clone to date) 
just hung up the machine completely. 
On the other hand, by following the pro- 
vided instructions we got Lotus 1-2-3 to 
run without a hitch. However, you can- 
not view graphics on screen. The only 
way you can get a graph is to define it and 
save it with /GS, and then print it on a 
printer or plotter with the PrintGraph 
program. 

NewWord is a word processing 
package written by some MicroPro 
defectors. It is similar to WordStar in 
concept and execution, but it has many 
advanced features. If you like WordStar, 
you'll love NewWord; if you hate 
WordStar, you might be neutral about 
NewWord. 

NewWord has four levels of on- 
screen help. You probably won't be 
happy with the highest (default) level 
since it takes up nine of the 1 6 lines of the 
display, but the others are very helpful. 

NewWord supports a wide range of 
printers and lets you, with some small 
difficulty, use all the custom print fea- 
tures of whatever printer you have con- 
nected. It prints mailing labels according 
to any conditions you specify such as a 
range of zip codes or all addresses except 
Newark, NJ. Conditionals can also be 
used for inserting selected paragraphs 
(for example, insert paragraph 3 if 
&PET& = dog). 

Neither IBM Basic or Basic A (GW 
Basic) runs on the Pivot. However, Basic 



34 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



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PRODUCT REVIEW 



CIRCLE 155 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



for the Compaq (and, we assume, other 
clones) runs without any problems. 
Curiously, Basic disables certain of the 
built-in functions such as Prt On (echoes 
the screen to the printer). Page Up, and 
Page Down, but not others. For exam- 
ple, the Print Screen, Home, Calculator, 
and Window Scroll keys worked fine. 
Frankly, we can't see much need for the 
deleted functions; it just seemed strange 
that they didn't work. Although the Ba- 
sic graphics commands work, we recom- 
mend not using them as the high width to 
height ratio of the screen coupled with 
only 16 lines produces some unwanted 
effects. 

With the Pivot, as with any other 
computer, our standard caveat holds: be 
sure to try out the software packages you 
want to use and see if they run before you 
buy. 

Should You Get One? 

Is a Pivot for you? Pros: it is truly 
portable, has 5 1/4" disk drives, runs 
MS-DOS, has a nifty icon touch panel, 
and is state-of-the-art without pushing 
unproven new technologies. Cons: the 
LCD screen is not suitable for certain 
lighting conditions (although the back- 
lighted screen will fix this), 16 lines re- 
quire compromises when running 
software designed for 25 lines, and not all 
PC software runs on the machine. 

Morrow is not a giant in the in- 
dustry, but it is a sensibly managed com- 
pany that has managed to survive for ten 
years — a commendable feat in an in- 
dustry where three years seems more the 
norm. The company has a good reputa- 
tion with customers and dealers alike; 
this bodes well for continuing support of 
the Pivot even though, incidentally, it is 
not manufactured by Morrow. 

Should you get one? If you need its 
capabilities, it's the best buy in town. ■ 

CIRCLE 409 ON READER SERVO CARD 




Apple II owners fall in love 
with System Saver? 



It's the most versatile, most convenient, most 
useful peripheral ever made for the Apple.' 

System Saver' niters out damaging AC line 
noise and power surges. 

70-90% of all microcomputer malfunctions can be 
traced to power line problems* Problems your 
System Saver guards against. 

Power line noise can often be interpreted as data 
This confuses your computer and produces system 
errors Power surges and spikes can cause severe 
damage to your Apple's delicate circuitry and lead 
to costly servicing. 

System Saver clips surges and 
spikes at a 130 Volts RMS/175 
Volts dc level. A PI type filter 
attenuates common and 
transverse mode noise by a 
minimum of 30 dB from 600 
kHz to 20 mHz with a max- 
imum attenuation of 50 dB 
You end up with an Apple 
that's more accurate, more 
efficient and more reliable. 



System Saver lets your Apple keep its cool. 

Today's advanced peripheral cards generate heat In 
addition, the cards block any natural air flow through 
the Apple lie creating high temperature conditions 
that shorten the life of the Apple and peripheral cards 

System Saver's efficient, quiet^ 
fan draws fresh air across 
the mother board, over 
the power supply and 
out the side ventilation 

slots It leaves your Apple cool, calm and running 

at top speed 





APPLE u 




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No more reaching around to the back of your Apple 
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to plug in your monitor and printer. System Saver 
organizes all your power needs 




It functions as a multi-outlet power strip with two 
switched outlets. Plus System Saver offers the 
ultimate convenience; a front mounted power switch 
for fingertip control of your entire system. 



So if you want to keep 
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your system for good, pick up the only peripheral 
that's in use every second your computer is in use 
The System Saver You'll soon come to think of it as 
the piece Apple forgot. 

Compatible with 
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CIRCLE 134 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL 



A 68000 muscle machine that also does 
some pretty good impressions 

Dimension 



John J. Anderson 



It is a fact: everything is bigger in Texas. 
That does, of course, include aspira- 
tions. For some time now we have re- 
ported on the aspiring Texan component 
of the microcomputer industry, repre- 
sented by leaders such as Tandy, TI, 
Houston Instrument, Datapoint, and 
others. In a land where hats often take 
ten gallons and airports are sometimes 
five miles long, aspirations stand tall. 
And the aspirations of the Dimension 
68000, from Micro Craft of Dallas, rep- 
resent a tall order indeed. 

Candide's Computer? 

Imagine a micro that was the best of 
all possible worlds. Basically a 68000- 
based muscle machine, it would repre- 
sent sheer computing power. And built 
around co-resident coprocessor boards, 
it would also optionally run IBM MS- 
DOS software, Apple II software, 
CP/M software, and Unix-based soft- 
ware. You wouldn't have to choose be- 
tween standards. That decision would 
no longer be necessary. There would be 
no reason to buy another machine. 

That, in a nutshell, is the philosophy 
of the Dimension 68000. There is, how- 
ever, more to this machine than merely a 
nutshell, as we shall see. But first the 
specifics. The Dimension system in- 
cludes 256K RAM, expandable to 
S12K, dual half-height, single density, 
double sided drives, CP/M 68K, based 
on the 68000 CPU, Basic, a C Compiler, 
68K assembler, diagnostics, and util- 
ities. It comes with an NTSC output, a 
Centronics standard parallel port, an 
RS-232 standard serial port, and a joy- 
stick port. 

Ten-Gallon System Unit 

As one might guess, a system unit 
designed to enclose a 68000 along with a 
maximum of four co-processor cards, 
while leaving room for at least two 
peripheral cards, is necessarily massive. 
The Dimension system unit is hand- 
some, but sports a footprint that would 
dwarf many a desk. Available as internal 




Diminiow 68000: BJgfertpriwftbigwdhp.too. 



Hardware Profile 


Keyboard: Detached 83-key f ullstroke 




Documentation: Good. System, UniBasic, 




CP/M 68K and C user manuals 


Nam*: Dimension 68000 


Summary: Less than thrilling as an emula- 


Type: Desktop microcomputer 


tion machine, but an extremely 


CPU: Motoroloa 68000 


powerful 68000 machine for the pro- 


RAM: 256K expandable to 5 1 2K 


grammer or engineer 


Operating System: emulates MS-DOS, 


Price: $3900, with dual drives, main 


Apple DOS 3.3 and Pro-DOS, 


68000 CPU, 256K; $5500 with 5 1 2K 


CP/M, Unix (using coprocessors) 


and three coprocessor cards 


Ports: Serial, parallel, joystick, NTSC 


Manufacturer: Micro Craft Corporation 


video output, six peripheral slots 


4747 Irving Blvd., Suite 221 


Display Resolution: Up to 1 00 x 50 in text 


Dallas, TX 75247 


mode, 320 x 525 graphics mode 


(800) 527-7605 



options in this large case are 96 track, 
double density floppy drives, and either 
a 20Mb or a 50Mb hard disk unit. The 
system we received for evaluation was 
supplied with three co-processor boards 
(8086, Z80, and 65 1 2), as well as a mem- 
ory card that brought the system up to 
512K. A big footprint, yes — and a big 
wallop, too. The Dimension is a Texas 
behemoth. 

The keyboard is OEMed from Key 
Tronic and offers the same improved PC 
layout as the Key Tronic 5150 replace- 



ment for the IBM PC. This is an 83-key 
full-stroke keyboard with 10 function 
keys nestled on the left, a 10-key numeric 
keypad nestled on the right, and a modi- 
fied Selectric-style keyboard in center 
stage. The keyboard is not as sturdy as 
the standard IBM keyboard, nor does it 
offer the same crisp tactile feedback, but 
it is completely serviceable, and includes 
LED caps lock readout, which the PC 
keyboard does not. 

We got the Dimension up and run- 
ning without any major problems, and 



38 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



BEFORE YOU BUY 

A PRINTERJAKE THIS 

SIMPLE EYE TEST. 



This is from ». le-adiT^ 
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hooked it to a composite monitor using 
the standard RCA phono jack. (An 
RGB card is available as an option.) The 
display can be configured to 20 x 20, 40 x 
24, 80 x 25, 80 x 50, and 100 x 50 rows 
and columns, respectively. Needless to 
say, the 100 column by 50 row display is 
not advisable on an NTSC monitor. 

Does it Do Jimmy Stewart? 

Before you can get the Dimension 
into emulation mode, you must patiently 
move some files around. This is a little 
tiring, but the process is documented 
clearly enough. Finally you end up with 
a system disk — the first disk to boot on 
the Dimension when out of native mode. 
This system disk contains the emulation 
software to tell the hardware which im- 
personation you wish it to do. So far so 
good — we told the Dimension to become 
an Apple, and there before us appeared a 
40 x 24 all-uppercase display with no 
screen editor and the familiar > prompt. 
Very convincing! 

But a funny thing happened to our 
video output on the way to becoming an 
Apple — the top half of it began to tear. 
By playing with the vertical hold, we got 
the image to stick, but it remained jittery, 
with an unsightly bend to the left. A call 
to Micro Craft got us a very nice, helpful 
response, unfortunately to the effect of 
"play with the vertical hold." This was 
slightly unsettling. We were assured, 
however, that this fault has been cor- 
rected in subsequent models. 

Compatibility and Inability 

Then we started trying to load soft- 
ware. As has been my experience since 
the advent of work-alikes, compatibles, 
and emulators, some stuff works; some 
stuff sort of works; and some stuff just 
doesn't work. That's the way it is. 

Such was also the case with IBM 
emulation. Lotus booted up, as did 
WordStar, and even Flight Simulator. A 
little further experimentation revealed 
that although Flight Simulator would 
boot, it didn't quite run correctly. We 
could not avoid backing up into Lake 
Michigan, no matter how hard we tried. 
Beyond that, not much else would even 
boot, and that which did ran only up to a 
point. We have determined time after 
time that copy protection is the worst foe 
of compatibles, and I believe it to be the 
culprit in this case as well. As protection 
schemes almost always reflect directly 
the very peculiarities of a given piece of 
hardware, they are by their nature the 
toughest conditions to emulate. That's 
the way it is. 



On the CP/M front, things only got 
worse. I'll admit we don't have too much 
CP/M software lying around the lab 
anymore, but none that we did have 
would boot on the Dimension. 

I was disheartened. The Dimension 
represents a valiant attempt to en- 
compass the best of all possible software 
worlds, but does not really deliver on this 
promise. I placed a call to Don Bynum, 
head of the Dimension project for Micro 
Craft. I told him of my reservations and 
reminded him that for the price of a 




Keyboard is equivalent to KeyTronk 5 150. 




r^~ 



Rear of unn sports serial, parallel, and 
mouse/ 1 |oy stick ports. 

fully-blown Dimension, one could very 
nearly buy a full-blown IBM PC, with a 
full-blown Apple II, and a full-blown 
Kaypro CP/M machine. Sure, they 
would take up a lot of room, but at least 
you would know all your software would 
run. Why, then, opt for the Dimension? 
Well somewhat to my surprise, Don 
had some very plausible answers to that 
question. I soon realized that I might be 
going about my hardware evaluation 
from entirely the wrong perspective. 
Can the Candide angle. Go for Casey 
Jones. 

Desktop Diesel 

Don described the Dimension as a 
computing locomotive. He suggested 



that the unit should not be reviewed as an 
emulation machine at all, but as a high 
performance 68000 machine, that at the 
same time offers a link back to some 
older software bases. He put forth the 
case of an engineer, involved in modeling 
and simulation, who already uses an 
IBM PC or Apple II to aid him in his 
work — but all he can do currently with a 
micro is the "administrative" part of his 
job. He can write his weekly reports on it. 
He can do his project budgets on it, and 
he can sum up his data in some primitive 
ways with it. But he cannot do actual 
modeling with it, because it is not power- 
ful enough. There simply isn't enough 
RAM, or more significantly enough 
CPU power, to take care of the actual job 
he has at hand. 

Using the Dimension, that engineer 
can do the things he would otherwise 
need to timeshare on the VAX or other 
comparable mini or mainframe to ac- 
complish. As an example, he can do a 
1000- point Fast Fourier transform in 
double precision in something under 20 
seconds, including a hi-res output of the 
waveform. So the muscle is undeniably 
there, and solely in the hands of the per- 
son at the desk. At the same time, our 
hypothetical engineer can also drop his 
IBM emulator card into the Dimension, 
and continue to use the Lotus or Word- 
Star software that he has been using all 
along. 

Data by Rail 

Bynum emphasized that emulation 
on the Dimension is not an end in itself, 
but a bridge between existing datafiles 
and the world of the 68000. Using the 
Dimension in emulation mode, existing 
datafiles can be ported over from exist- 
ing environments to the environment of 
the 68000 processor, without raising the 
prospect of rekeying. To a CPA, or a 
small businessman with dozens of exist- 
ing data disks, the Dimension offers a 
reasonable means to enter the CP/M 
68K or other heavy-duty 68000-based 
sphere, without scrapping the work that 
has led to the existing, large database. 
This is a critically important consid- 
eration to those who have reached the 
limit of their current systems, but abhor 
the prospect of a changeover because it 
would mean massive and costly amounts 
ofbusywork. 

Around the Bend, Unix 

Further, the Dimension offers Unix 
potential for the future. As it rather 
spooks me, I offered that Unix might be 
an anchor around the neck, though a dif- I 



40 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



ferent kind of anchor than CP/M had 
proven to be. Don agreed that CP/M 
had "set the industry back five years," 
but responded that rather than another 
anchor around the neck, he viewed the 
coming of Unix as a potential "time 
bomb in the pocket." He continued: 

"I'm a Unix enthusiast, and I went 
to a Unix user's group meeting in Dallas 
recently. I would typify the people who 
went to that meeting as falling into two 
classes: there were a bunch of guys with 
beards and sandals, who looked as if they 
might be offended at the statement that 
Unix could be used for useful work. They 
have been experimenting with operating 
system theory in Unix for ten years now. 
All of a sudden, though, that group is 
shrinking. AT&T has budgeted $150 
million dollars to convince the business 
world that they will need Unix. That is 
creating a group that expects real results. 
And that group is growing. I think Unix 
is the best alternative that is out there 
right now. 

"It does have some heavy burdens 
that come with it, though. It is like the 
operating system on a big computer — it 
uses loads of overhead. Like a big com- 
puter operating system, there are lots of 
things that can make doing a big job eas- 
ier, too. But like a big computer operat- 
ing system, if you take any kind of a 
power hit in the middle of the day, the 
consequences can be pretty grim . 1 1 is not 
as bad as it used to be, however. A bench- 
mark of this was the track record of 
Dimension Unix during fall Comdex. 
We demonstrated our Unix system 
there — we ran it all five days — and suf- 
feed three power failures in our building 
during those five days. We lost exactly 
one file. I was astonished. The only guy 
who was more surprised than I was our 
Unix engineer. He was first surprised, 
second happy, and third wondering 
when and where the other shoe would 
fall. 

"The key is that Unix offers an in- 
credibly powerful development tool, and 
while the shell itself is far from user- 
friendly, user-friendly shells can be de- 
veloped on top of it. That is what is 
beginning to happen. The Dimension is 
sitting above the PC AT and AT&T en- 
tries in terms of performance, because 
we're using the 68000 as opposed to the 
80286, and we run Unix with two 
68000s — one 10 Meg component that's 
actually running Unix and one that's act- 
ing as file server and handling the I/O 
stuff. This dual-processor arrangement 
squeezes the most out of the system." 
With CP/M 68K, the Dimension is 



also well-placed in the single-user mar- 
ket. People who need a tremendous 
amount of computing power will have a 
tough time finding a bigger engine in a 
desktop micro. Bynum pointed out that 
there are four Dimensions being used at 
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for heavy 
number crunching. As a result, JPL 
saved the cost of another minicomputer 
system. 

Changing Pitch 

Though he admitted that the Di- 
mension was originally pitched as "the 
machine for all software," the emphasis 
that Don now underscores is the Dimen- 
sion as a superlative 68000 machine, 
with the plus that in emulation mode, 
lots of other stuff can run. "There is an 
attraction, I suppose," he said, "to the 
fact that with a straight face you can say 
that the Dimension is a machine that will 
run most of the software across the range 
from the Apple II to Unix. That's a 
pretty grand statement. But I don't 
know anyone who really wants to run 
most of the software across the range 
from the Apple II to Unix. Maybe a 



magazine editor like you, or someone 
like (industry and software analyst) Por- 
tia Isaacson. I hope Portia doesn't get 
mad at me, because we're old friends. 
But I can't name anyone else who is in a 
position to really want to do that kind of 
thing. And that's not where we're at." 

I have to admit, Don had me there. 
For my less than typical needs, I would 
have welcomed the Dimension as the 
"universal" software machine. At the 
same time, I realize that there aren't a 
heck of a lot of other people in my po- 
sition. I can't speak for Portia, of course 
(no one can do that). And from the point 
of view of an engineer, the Dimension is 
without question a powerful contender. 
Its benchmarks are unbeatable. Native 
mode Fortran and Pascal on the Dimen- 
sion run rings around the IBM PC AT. 

For sheer power, the Dimension is a 
winner. Space limitations preclude the 
inclusion of a comprehensive list of Dim- 
ension-compatible software packages, 
but you can download a list from the 
Creative Computing SIG or request one 
from the manufacturer. ■ 

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VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 41 



&JS&/& 



BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL 



When integration isn't enough 



Concurrent PC DOS 



Chris Terry 



Integration of several functions in one 
software package is a concept that has 
more than come into its own during the 
past year. Many popular "integrated 
packages" allow you to insert figures 
from their spreadsheet and database 
members into reports and letters pre- 
pared on their word processing mem- 
bers. But what if you need a more 
powerful word processor than an inte- 
grated package offers, or what if you 
want to include figures from an engineer- 
ing program in your spreadsheet? 

In those cases and many others like 
them, you must change concepts. You 
abandon "integration" and adopt 
"concurrency" or "multitasking." You 
look for a system that will let you run the 
programs of your choice "concurrently" 
— which is exactly what Concurrent PC 
DOS from Digital Research is designed 
to do. 

Concurrent PC DOS is a multiuser, 
multitasking system that allows you to 
run up to four PC DOS or CP/M pro- 
grams simultaneously. It can be used by 
one or two users, one who uses an IBM 
PC keyboard and display and a second 
who uses a dumb terminal connected via 
the serial port. 

Hardware Requirements 

The minimum hardware require- 
ments are 256K of memory and two 
floppy disk drives. This configuration is 
sufficient to get the system up and run- 
ning, and perhaps to run a single applica- 
tion program that is not too memory- 
hungry. However, it isquiteinadequateto 
take advantage of the windowingcapabil- 
ities or to use the multitasking feature. 

DRI recommends at least 5I2K of 
memory, one or two floppy disk drives, 
and a hard disk; a hard disk configura- 
tion needs at least 1.2Mb of space, par- 
titioned for CP/M. 

The operating system occupies 
150K, and each application program 
(window) starts at 64K; this brings the 
count to 406K when running four pro- 
grams simultaneously. However, some 



care must be taken in allocating mem- 
ory, since some programs (such as word 
processors and spreadsheets) claim all 
available memory for use as data buffers. 

Installation 

Installation of Concurrent PC DOS 
on a system with two floppy disks, or on 
an XT, is straightforward, and the 
instructions in the manual are clear. 

If you have an XT, it is recom- 
mended that you back up all files on the 
hard disk, since you may have to re- 
format it with both a PC DOS and a 
CP/M partition. If your hard disk is an 
add-on (such as Tecmar or Tallgrass) 
you may encounter even more complica- 
tions, since the hard disk installation 
program will not run unless the appro- 
priate disk drivers are available to it. If 
you are not thoroughly familiar with the 
technical details of your system, you will 
need expert help for this type of 
installation. 

Windows 

You can simultaneously run pro- 
grams in each of the four possible 
windows, although there are a few 
restrictions. You cannot, for example, 
run more than one program that uses 
BasicA. And, although you can reduce 
window size to display two, or even 
three, windows simultaneously, the 
usefulness of this feature depends upon 
whether the application programs will 



Software Profile 



I: Concurrent PC DOS 
Type: Operating system 
System: IBM PC/XT Format: Disk 
Summary: Easy to use multitasking system 

with excellent menus 
Prke: $295 

Manufacturer: Digital Research, Inc. 
160 Central Ave. 
Pacific Grove, CA 93950 
(408)649-3896 



support it. Many applications, not de- 
signed for multitasking, bypass the 
operating system during screen updates 
and may try to write over the full screen, 
spilling into other windows. The DRI 
applications, however, are designed for 
multitasking and do not create this 
problem. 

Utilities 

Several system utilities are provided 
with Concurrent. FDMAINT and 
HDMAINT are formatters for use with 
Hoppy and hard disks, respectively; 
HDMAINT also allows the establish- 
ment of both a CP/M and a PC DOS par- 
tition on the hard disk. Another utility 
preempts part of main memory for use as 
a RAM disk, although the usefulness of 
this depends on how many windows you 
normally use at one time. It will speed 
things up if no more than two programs 
are to run simultaneously, but even 
640K would hardly be enough for four 
programs and the RAM disk. 

A really useful utility allows you to 
define up to 50 function keys for each 
window; it is somewhat like the CP/M- 
80 utilities SmartKey and MagicKey in 
that a single keystroke can represent an 
entire string. 

The PRINTMGR print manager 
utility allows you to define a printer for 
each window, and provides print queu- 
ing of up to 255 files. It can be activated 
interactively from a menu or by com- 
mand-line entries. One valuable feature 
is that for each window you can specify 
the number of copies to be printed, the 
printer to be used, and standard format- 
ting parameters. 

Three application programs are 
provided with the system: an editor, a 
communications package, and a simple 
database. 

Editor 

DR EDIX is a full-screen editor 
that supersedes the infamous ED and PC 
DOS EDLIN (which is nearly as bad as 
ED). DR EDIX creates straight ASCII 



42 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



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files with a carriage return/line feed at 
the end of each; lines may be up to 255 
characters long and are numbered by 
DR EDIX internally, the current line 
number being displayed at the bottom 
right of the screen. DR EDIX allows you 
to work with four different files at once, 
each in its own buffer; a marked block of 
text can be moved within the same buffer 
or to one of the other buffers, to allow 
calling up boilerplate material. 

The cursor can be moved left or 
right by character, word, or line, and up 
or down a line at a time. A scroll com- 
mand moves the cursor up or down one 
page. Insert and overtype modes are 
both provided, and global find/replace 
commands are also available. 

DR EDIX is not in any sense a word 
processor, but is a clean, simple editor 
for writing source code or simple letters 
and memos. 

Communications 

DR TALK is a versatile commu- 
nications package containing all the fea- 
tures generally needed in communicating 
with other computers or bulletin boards 
and time-sharing services. It can upload 
and download both ASCII and binary 
files, using either its own protocol or the 
XMODEM (Christensen) protocol. For 
use with mainframes and commercial ser- 
vices, the pacing feature is extremely 
valuable. This feature sends ASCII files a 
line at a time, waiting either for a fixed 
time or until a prompt is received from the 
remote station. 

A dialing directory can hold up to 
60 names and phone numbers; each en- 
try specifies the parameters to be used 
when communicating with the station. 



Database 

I did not have an opportunity to ex- 
ercise CARDFILE, but it is a simple 
name/address/phone/comment data- 
base similar to a card file. Searching for a 
name is linear, either displaying all cards 
in sequence, or going directly to the re- 
quired name. 

Conclusion 

Concurrent PC DOS is easy to use, 
considering its power, and is flexible in 
that it can run both CP/M-86 programs 
and PC DOS programs. The menus are 
excellent, because they give you enough 
information to do exactly what you 
want, yet don't hold up the expert user 
and infuriate him by making him go 
through several levels of menu. Besides, 
the real expert can always escape from 
the menu system altogether and work 
entirely at the system level with its cryp- 
tic prompts and complex command 
lines. But for the novice, or the person 
who only rarely uses some of the fea- 
tures, the menu system has one enor- 
mous advantage: at any time you can call 
up on-line help files to clarify details of 
the current operations available. 

In performance, Concurrent is as 
fast as PC DOS and on a hard disk sys- 
tem is not noticeably slowed by running 
more than one program. The only trou- 
ble is that many applications are just not 
designed for multitasking systems and 
may not work well together. I have no 
doubt, however, that with the advent of 
more multiuser, multitasking systems 
such as IBM AT, many of the bestselling 
application programs will be updated to 
remedy the incompatibilities. ■ 

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Thermal dot-matrix print at a bargain price 

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Owen Linzmayer 



Manufactured in the United States 
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tronics-type parallel interface version, 
Hush 80 P, and serial RS-232 interface 
version. Hush 80 S, are both priced at 
$159.99 with the appropriate cables. 
Though all of the models are essentially 
alike, this review was based upon my 
experience with the Hush 80 CD. 

The Hush 80 CD is an attractive lit- 
tle printer, and when we put the measur- 
ing tape to its cream colored body we 
find its dimensions to be 1 1.6" x 5.5" x 
2.8" . Given its small size and light 
weight (36 ounces with a 100', 8.5" wide 
roll of thermal paper loaded), the Hush 
80 CD is perfect for portable printouts; it 
was designed to fit in a conventional 
briefcase. Though it normally requires a 
9-v DC transformer, the Hush 80 CD is 
available in a rechargeable battery-op- 
erated version for true portability. 

Following the directions in the 37- 
page user's manual, set up of the Hush 80 
CD is no more difficult than connecting 
the 6-pin DIN interface cable to the se- 
rial port on the Commodore and plug- 
ging the transformer into a wall outlet. 
The printer is turned on with the switch 
located on the left side of the unit above 
the power cord. Once activated, the 
linefeed button should light up, indicat- 
ing that the printer is ready to receive 
data from the computer. 

Incidentally, the linefeed button is 




Hardware Profile 

Nome: Hush 80 Type: Thermal dot-matrix 

Feed: Friction Speed: 80 cps 

Interface: Commodore, parallel, or serial 

Density: 5x7 text 

Graphics: 4800 dots per square inch 

Character Sots: 2 luffer:n/a 

Logic Seek: Bidirectional 

Summary: If money is an object, this may 

be the solution 
Prict: $139.99 

Ergo Systems, Inc. 

26254 Eden Landing Rd. 

Hayward, CA 94545-37 1 8 

(415)786-3746 



REGULAR SIZE' 1234567890 

DOUBLE WIDTH: 1£345 
67S90RBCDEFG 

HALF iJIDTH: 12M5 ilW Kii "r" 

The complete HUSH 86 
character set is fulls 
Commodore compat i b 1 e 

: "#$X4'O*+i-./012345673 
""*_♦ ; cXD* 14-rf: Iff^ I ■ _ 
|«"J $*? ir.H.rh-lil r™ 

Mrs tuvwxs zi£l tt-flBCDEFGH 
-fiBCOEFGH I JKLMNOMRSTUVWX 



Hush 80 sample output. 



the only mechanical control device oa 
the printer. If you depress the linefeed 
button when you turn the printer on, you 
activate the self-test which results in a 
brief demo, along with a sample printout 
showing all of the features of the Hush 80 
CD. In other cases, the linefeed fc 1 
advances the thermal paper one line. 

The manual contains B-'sie pr„ 
gramming information needed to 
full advantage of all features. As yoi. n 
see in the sample output, the Hush 80 
CD is capable of printing upper 
lowercase alphanumerics, as we'! as the 
complete Commodore graphu. 
ter set. In addition, you can d 
print your own custom character s;t by 
entering the graphic mod -. Using a 
printhead with a 5 x 7 matrix the Hush 
80 CD prints 40, 80, or 160 char • 
per line bi-directionally at an av 
rate of 80 characters per second G r 
icsare printed uni-directionally 3a a6* 7 
matrix. And as its name would have you 
believe, the Hush 80 CD operates very 
quietly (56dB). 

There you have the specifications of 
the printer, but let's talk reality. The 
print quality is nice for a dot -matrix ther- 
mal printer, but you get what you pay 
for, and for $140 you shouldn't expect 
near-letter-quality output. What you do 
get is a very consistent, legible dot-ma- 
trix character set, though I was disap- 
pointed to find that the lowercase 
characters lack true descenders. 

For a budding programmer on a 
budget, the Hush 80 CD is perfect since 
it has the ability to print all of the Com- 
modore special graphics characters. 
Likewise, the battery-operated serial 
and parallel versions of the Hush printer 
are excellent for portable computer en- 
thusiasts who desire draft quality 80-col- 
umn output or can't afford the HP 
Thinkjet. However, if you are shopping 
for a printer for correspondence or other 
serious word processing applications, 
you will probably have to spend a bit 
more for a plain-paper impact dot-ma- 
trix printer. ■ 
CIRC1E 41 1 ON READFR SERVICE CARD 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 45 



PERSONAL 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



A happy marriage of form and function 

C Itoh 7500EP 



Owen Linzmayer 



In the world of printers, the marriage of 
form and function is not always a 
happy one. Often one trait is com- 
promised for another; leaving you with 
either a beautifully inoperative machine 
or an unsightly beast of burden. Such is 
not the case with the 7500EP dot matrix 
printer from C. Itoh. Recently reduced 
in price to a competitive $289, the 
7500EP is one dot matrix printer that 
combines sleek good looks with un- 
compromised features. 

Casting a critical eye upon the C. 
Itoh 7500EP, we see that it measures 
14.9" wide, 4.4" high, and a foot deep. 
The 13.1 pound unit has a body that 
gently slopes down to a front control 
panel upon which several lights and 
switches are located. There are three 
lights that signal the status of the power, 
paper, and printer (on-line or de- 
selected). Also found on this front panel 
are the linefeed (LF) and top of form 
(TOF) switches. Above this panel is the 
hinged cover of the printer that opens to 
reveal the printhead and paper loading 
mechanisms. 

The 7500EP uses a precision 9-wire 
print head and a large multi-strike rib- 
bon cartridge to produce text characters 
on a 9 x II matrix. Graphics are also 
available at up to 240 dots per inch. The 
position of the printhead itself can be ad- 
justed in relation to the platen so that the 
7500EP can accept forms up to three 
parts thick. Both friction and sprocket 
feed mechanisms come standard on the 
7500EP, though my experience is that 
loading a single sheet of paper is a 
troublesome task. However, unlike 
many other low-cost printers, the 
7500EP does not suffer the common 
problems of tearing fan fold paper and 
"eating" its own output. 

The back of the 7500EP sports the 
power cable, two banks of DIP switches, 
and the parallel interface connector. 
(Note: the 7500AR is the RS-232C serial 
equivalent of the 7500EP, and at $329, 
costs a bit more. I know not why). Op- 
tions available via DIP switch settings 
include carriage return followed by 
linefeed, form length (II" or 12"), line 
spacing, perforation skip, uni- or 




Hardware Profile 



! 7500EP Typ«: Impact dot-motrix 

Feed: Sprocket and friction 

Speed:l05cps Interface: 8-bit parallel 

Density: 9x11 normal text 

Graphics: 240 dots per inch 

ChoracterSets:2 Buffer: 2K 

Logic Seek: Bidirectional 

Summary: Attractive features and 
price Price: $289 

Manufacturer: C. Itoh Electronics, Inc. 
5301 Beethoven St. 
Los Angeles, CA 90066 
(800)423-0300 
(617)769-8770 



This is the C. Itoh 
Normal Mode 
Emphasized Mode 
Double Strike Mode 
Coapressed Mode 

Eioub 1 e — IaJxcI 
example o-f ■»«*••-•€=•-»»» 
example of ■„„.__ lB ,* 
Standard und erj i n in a 



bidirectional printing, and line buffer 
size. As shipped from the factory, the 
7500EP comes equipped with a 2K print 
buffer, and can be expanded. 

The folks at C. Itoh claim that the 
7500EP is fully compatible with the 
Epson RX-80 dot matrix printer, with 
the exception that the 7500EP is slightly 
faster (105 cps in normal mode) and 
somewhat cheaper. The 7500EP sports 
six different character pitches: normal, 
double width, compressed, double 
width-compressed, sub- and superscript. 
It also has double strike and emphasized 
modes (see sample printout). 

In addition to enjoying the variety 
of text modes, I've had little difficulty 
obtaining beautiful screen dumps using 
graphics programs configured to think 
the printer is an RX-80. For the most 
part I have found the Epson compatibil- 



Sompte pnntouf from til© 7500CP. 

ity claim to be substantiated. 

The printer self-test is accom- 
plished by turning the power on while 
holding down the top of form (TOF) but- 
ton. The 75O0EP reacts by printing its 
entire character set over and over, until 
the printer is shut off. When the power is 
turned on while the linefeed (LF) switch 
is depressed, all data received from the 
host computer is printed out in hexadeci- 
mal form. This function facilitates 
troubleshooting of hardware and soft- 
ware problems. Two other self-explana- 
tory amenities are the emergency print 
halt and the paper empty over-ride. 

Though the 40-page user's manual 
that comes with the 7500EP could use a 
little revision to make it more com- 
prehensible to the neophyte, it does an 
adequate job. The many illustrationsand 
charts help you get the most out of this 
inexpensive dot matrix printer. The 
printer itself is a well-designed unit with 
a nice array of features and very attrac- 
tive lines. Not only is the 75O0EP easy on 
t he eyes, its low price makes it easy on the 
budget. ■ 

CIRCLE 41 2 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



46 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Only from Topaz. . . 



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Highly efficient and completely reliable-, 
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With exclusive Powerlogk control, our 
Power Conditioners arc able to perform with 
exceptional speed and accura< \ An internal 
microcomputer monitors incoming power 
and instantaneously corrects o\ ervoltages 
and underv oltages. 

I [armful po\\ cr line noise- is also eliminated. 
A built-in l lira Isolator \oise- Suppressor 
provides common-mode noise- attenuation 
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Available in micro, mini, and mainframe 
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I inel out more about our new I. ine 1 Power 
Conditioners Call us today at (<>1 1 )) 279-0831, 
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Excellence in Computer Pouer 

SqURRE Tl COMPANY 

CIRCLE 161 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



ttJ 




IBM 

Writing Assistant 




*^//? J/,/. ^ 



IBM 

Graphing Assistant 



n:«, 



How to get all your 



Now you can easily control even 
hard-to-manage facts and 
figures with the 
Assistant Series from IBM. 

If you line up the right software, 
getting your ducks in a row is not only 
possible, but easy. 

There's a program in IBMs Assist- 
ant Series to handle each of the most 



important jobs people are using per- 
sonal computers for these days: spread- 
sheets, word processing and database 
management. 

But unlike software programs that 
calf! slime information with other pro- 
grams, the I KIM Assistants work together 
as a team, as well as alone. 

And unlike other programs that 
can be challenging to learn, all the com- 
plicated inner workings of these pro- 
grams have been hidden from view. 
So using them is almost intuitive. 

Filing Assistant is a database 




program that allows you toor ganizeand 
■tore information in any format that 
suits you. and retrieve it instanta- 
neously, according to your own 
specifications. 

Writing Assistant is a won! process- 
ing program that shows you on the 
screen just what your words will look 
like on paper. It helps correct mis- 
spelled words and even lets you 
insert forecasts or graphs from other 
Assistants into your text. 

(iraphing Assistant turns num- 
bers into pictures. Like all the Assis- 



•Planning Assistant available eafly 1985 
••IBM Product Centef prices 



IBM 

Planning Assistant 



ducks in a row. 



tants. it accepts information from the key- 
board, or directly from Filing Assistant. 
So you can see what the bottom line looks 
like as a pie chart, a bar chart or a line 
chart. Or all three. In minutes. 

Planning Assistant* is a powerful 
new spreadsheet that replaces complex 
commands used in earlier pi-ograms 
with plain English (TOTAL instead 
of C21+D21+E21+F214021I. It's smart 
enough to widen columns automatically 
to fit your entries. It will even fill in 
the blank after "Dec 85" with "Jan 86." 

Then there's Reporting Assistant, to 



help you create customized reports 
(complete with totals, subtotals and aver- 
ages! of your Filing Assistant data. 

Every program in the IBM Assist- 
ant Series works with every computer, 
every display and every printer in the 
I KM Personal Computer family. And 
each program costs less than $150.** 

Any authorized IBM Personal Com- 
puter dealer or IBM Product Center can 



give you a demonstration of the Assistant 
Series. Just seeing them in action may 
make you feel more organized. For the 
location of the store nearest you, call 
1-800-447-4700. In Alaska or Hawaii, 
1.800-447-8090. 



Ftersonal ( Computer Software 

CIRCLE 127 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



Little Tramp character licensed by Bubbles Inc.. s.a 



INDUSTRY 



1985 Winter 

Consumer Electronics Show 



David H.Ahl 

What was new at Winter CES? 
Everything under the sun from 
computers to robots to vapor- 
ware. We'll be reviewing many of the 
best products in coming months; mean- 
while, here is a small smattering of hard- 
ware, software, news, views, and parties. 



Commodore introduced the CI 28 
computer with 128K of RAM, 80-col- 
umn display, and CP/M-80 compatibil- 
ity. Their double-page ads screamed 
"Bad news for IBM and Apple." We 
don't think so. Although the CI 28 is 
fully compatible with the C64 (means big 
software base), CP/M-80 is out of date, 
and you need a monitor to use the 80-col- 
umn capability. We hear that Com- 
modore wanted to price the machine at 
$399, took a look at the new Atari en- 
tries, and went back into a huddle. Best 
bet is a retail price around $250. 




On the other hand, the LCD por- 
table from Commodore looks like a 
potential winner. It has a 16-line by 80- 
character display, 32K. RAM, 96K 
ROM, built-in modem, 72 keys, and 
built-in software including word 
processing, spreadsheet, file manager, 
Basic, and several other programs. 
Price: "well under $1000." 



The most effective product dem- 
onstrators at CES? No contest. The kids, 
ages 8 to 1 4, who were demonstrating the 
line of games from Epyx. President Mike 
Katz, one of the best promoters in the 
business, happily stood back and let 
these youngsters steal the show. Ten new 



entries from Epyx include two dynamite 
games from Lucasfilms; a sci fi game 
(Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern); and high- 
tech versions of Barbie, Hot Wheels, and 
G.I. Joe. These last three games provide 
non-structured creative play for chil- 
dren four to ten years old. 




Woeful is the troll who doesn't act 
quickly in Trolls and Tribulations, a new 
strategy/action game from Creative 
Software. In the game, the player must 
lead trolls through treacherous under- 
ground caverns to recover treasures. 

In Break Street, players guide game 
characters through such breakdancing 
movements as the tut, scorpion, wind- 
mill, and moon walk. The DeRoxy Crew, 
a Seattle breakdancing group, consulted 
on the development of the game. 



The first third-party Apple soft- 
ware company, Muse, was started by Ed 
Zaron eight years ago. Many ups and 
downs later, Ed is still going strong and 
has released his latest package (a C64 
program!) Smart Start. Ed was im- 
pressed with the power of the C64 but 
felt that users needed a better way to get 
at its capabilities. Smart Start was the re- 
sult, and it meets its objectives 
admirably. 

Other Muse favorites include Castle 
Wolfenstein, Beyond C. W., Three Mile 
Island (unbelievably realistic simula- 
tion), Robotwar, Super Text, and many 
others. 




Wico introduced the SmartBoard, 
an intelligent keyboard/trackball 
peripheral for IBM PC and Apple II 
computers. Each of ten function keys 
can be programmed to contain as much 
as 126 characters of data, while the 
trackball can be used for cursor move- 
ment or mouse emulation. 



Telelearning, a San Francisco based 
telecommunications firm, has an- 
nounced several new college courses 
available to Apple, IBM, and C64 own- 
ers. Telelearning is a two-year old com- 
pany that allows personal computer 
users to earn college credits at home by 
providing course material on disk and 
access to a college instructor by modem. 
To get final course credit, a student must 
take a proctored exam at a test center 
and apply for credit at one of the 2000 
participating universities. Courses cost 
$35 to $200. 



At the Prentice-Hall booth, Ski- 
writer II was being demonstrated by au- 
thor Ken Skier, a former creative writing 
teacher at MIT who helped develop the 
highly-regarded Wang word processor. 
Ski Writer II, a friendly fast package has 
built-in telecommunications so that 
information can be downloaded from an 
on-line database and entered directly 
into wp documents. For the C64, PC, 
PCjr, and Apple; $69.95. 



Most intriguing CES party: The 
Infocom participatory murder mystery 
staged by the New York based Murder- 
To-Go troupe. Guests were witness to 
various incriminating scenes and could 
examine the place where the body was 
found as well as police reports. Nine peo- 
ple solved the mystery, and the top win- 
ner won a trip to Bermuda. 



SO CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1 985 



Going for the big names is the strat- 
egy of Simon & Schuster's Electronic 
Publishing Group. Initial entries include 
computerized versions (for the IBM PC) 
of J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax and 
Your Money Manager. Webster's New 
World Spelling Checker. The Great 















1111 

JUt 




.;,;^-?^ify^ w™ 


•%} 


^^CW 





Mac Art Oept. 



International Paper Airplane Construc- 
tion Kit (for the Mac), and a non-celeb- 
rity clip art program for the Mac, The 
Mac Art Dept. 

Flyers' favorites: the new subLogic 
Flight Simulator II and MicroProse F- 
15 Strike Eagle games. The F- 1 5 is fabu- 
lous with its radar and infra-red guided 
missiles, bombs, cannons, ECM, flares, 
and full aeorbatic capabilities. Cut in the 
afterburners and watch this baby move 
out! We hear that some fanatics have 
hooked two computers together and 
staged interactive dogfights. We didn't 
see any, but we did see a similar setup 
with the Nexa MSX flight simulator pro- 
gram. Very intense! 

Electronic Arts displayed several 
new items including a Mac version of its 
Financial Cookbook, a Racing Destruc- 
tion Set which allows players to design 
their own tracks and race cars, the 
Adventure Construction Set, and Mail 
Order Monster (a robot kit in which crea- 
tures can be designed and pitted against 
each other in three levels of combat). 



PlayNet, a new company, offers a 
network for C64 owners. The net can be 
used for electronic mail, CB, transfer- 
ring programs, and, most important, 
playing scores of on-line games. Current 
games include backgammon, checkers, 
chess, bridge, go, and eight more. The 
initial fee is $40, and there is a $6 
monthly service charge. 



Gamestar showed a line of highly 
realistic sports simulations including 
football, baseball, tennis, and a new one, 
auto racing. Unlike other racing games, 
On-Track provides head-to-head com- 
petition on any often famous raceways. 
Although you view the course from 
overhead, you still get non-stop racing 
action from start to finish. 



Q*Bert is back in a sequel, Q*Bert's 
Qubes. In this game from Parker Bros, 
Q*Bert must hop from qube to qube and 
rotate them with his feet, while dodging 
Meltniks, Soobops, and the infamous 
Rat-A-Tat-Tat. 'Tain't easy! 

Another sequel — to Montezuma's 
Revenge — is Barbados Booty, an under- 
sea diving adventure. All 128 chambers 
in a maze of coral and sunken ships are 
infested with dangerous denizens of the 
deep — although there are many gems 
and valuable treasures scattered about as 
well. 




Activision, once king of the Atari 
2600 VCS game world but now a much 
slimmed-down company, was not show- 
ing a single 2600 game. An open letter 
from president Jim Levy says "We be- 
lieve that 198S is the beginning of a new 
era for home computers and home com- 
puter software ..." (Well, whadaya 
know!) On the bright side, Activision 
was showing some of the most playable 
computer games on the show floor. 

Stickybear, the hero and guide for 
the Weekly Reader Software learning 
programs came alive at the Winter CES. 
The funny, furry bear, created by the re- 
nowned illustrator, Richard Hefter, 
stamped his feet (danced?) to the music 
of the booth across the aisle and posed 
for photographs. 



Niftiest product that will never 
reach the market: Toki's biometal robot. 
This miniature robot is controlled by a ti- 
tanium-nickel alloy which "remembers" 
a shape or position. Heating the joints by 
a pulse current extends them, but when 
they cool, they return to their original 
shape and position. Toki was also show- 
ing an innovative light-driven interface 
that can control the robot or other mo- 
tors and household appliances. We're 
rooting for you Toki, but .... 



According to Cathy Carlston of 
Broderbund, sales of The Print Shop ex- 
ceeded the wildest expectations of the 
company. And now, The Graphics Li- 
brary, the add-on package of enhance- 
ments and fonts, seems to be pushing The 
Print Shop to new sales highs. We're 
happy to hear it — we loved The Print 
Shop when we reviewed it, and there are 
no nicer people in the industry than the 
Carlstons. 



Third party software is quietly mak- 
ing the scene for the Sharp PC- 5000. 
Sorcim released portable versions of 
SuperWriter. SuperCalc2 (not 3), 
SuperPlanner and SuperComm; from 
I. U.S. come Easy Writer II. Easy- 
Planner, and EasyComm; MicroPro re- 
leased WordStar; and Software 
Publishing released PFS:File and 
PFS:Report. In addition, one of the 
biggies in the Model 100 business, Trav- 
eling Software released their five major 
applications packs for the PC-5000. 



MSX continues to be an enigma. 
Microsoft showed one each of all the 
currently available MSX machines from 
Japan and Korea, but no one was taking 




orders. The official line was "wait until 
Summer CES." The machines creating 
the most excitement were those with 
interactive video capabilities (Pioneer, 
Sony, and JVC). 



Heard from the top ad rep of a lead- 
ing computer magazine at CES: "Five of 
the biggest companies here are living in 
glass houses. When the after-Christmas 
returns start coming back, they'll be 
down the tubes — or looking for a 
bailout." ■ 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 31 



TECHNOLOGY 



Tom Adams 



Using ultrasound to detect defects 

Inside An 



Once, long ago, you had your first 
glimpse of the inside of a com- 
puter. Someone lifted the mon- 
itor, removed the cover, and pointed to 
shiny black plastic rectangles with short 
silvery legs sitting on a green board. 
"That's the memory," you were told. 
And you took it on faith. 

The thing about integrated circuits 
is that, unless you design and manufac- 
ture the things, you do pretty much have 
to take them on faith. Either they work 
or they don't. You can't repair an IC. 

When an IC does fail, "overheat- 
ing" is likely to be cited as the cause. ICs 
generate heat, and that heat 
must be dissipated. That is 
why your computer has 
vents and maybe even a 
fan. But even with an active 
cooling system like a fan, 
some ICs self-destruct. This 
is what manufacturers call 
"premature failure in ser- 
vice." and it has a great deal 
to do with the way ICs are 
made. 




Physical Characteristics 

The active part of the 
IC package is the chip itself, 
that precocious sliver of sili- 
con. Also embedded in the 
black plastic package is the 
lead frame, a flat metal cut-out. In the 
center of the frame is a square called 
the "flag" from which radiate leads. 

During manufacture, the chip is at- 
tached to the flag of the lead frame. This 
sounds innocent enough, but just how 
the chip is attached has profound im- 
plications for the future of the chip. 

After the chip is in place, very fine 
gold wires are installed to bridge the gap 
between the relatively huge legs of the 
lead frame (which are the connections of 
the chip to the outside world) and tiny 
bond pads on the chip itself. 

Next, the outer ends of the legs are 
bent, and the whole thing is encased in an 
extrusion-molded package of black plas- 
tic. The purpose of the plastic is to pro- 
tect the chip from the environment — 
especially from moisture. The finished 
product is known as an IC package, or 
more technically a 16- or 40-pin plastic 
DIP (dual in-line package). 

When the completed IC package is 
installed in a computer and power begins 



Side view shows heat path in an integrated circuit package. Heat is gen- 
erated by the microcircuit at the top of silicon chip (A). A small amount of 
heat escapes upward through the plastic package (arrow), but the 
plastic is too good an insulator to allow much to escape. The best path 
by which heat can escape is downward through the bond layer (B) to 
the lead frame (C). Cracks, voids, and separations in the bond layer can 
block this route, causing overheating. Heat continues along prongs of 
lead frame, eventually traveling down the pins (D) into circuit board. 
Small amounts of heat are dissipated into the plastic along the way. 



to flow through it, the chip begins to gen- 
erate heat. The ordinary operating tem- 
perature of a chip is somewhere between 
100 and 165 degrees C, depending on its 
particular use. 

It is important to keep that tem- 
perature under control. As a rule of 
thumb, the life of the chip is cut in half 
for every 1 degrees Centigrade the tem- 
perature rises above normal. So the ques- 
tion becomes: how can heat be allowed 
to escape from the IC package? 

Assembly 

Let's take a close look at the IC 
package and the way it is assembled. One 
of the most important steps is the attach- 
ment of the chip to the lead frame. Typi- 
cally, on the production line, a row of 
lead frames moves along a track, stop- 
ping first for a dab of silver-filled epoxy 
to be placed on the flag at the center of 
the lead frame, and then for the chip to be 
dropped on by a pick-and-place arm. 

A good part of the future of your 



computer is determined at the moment 
the arm places the chip on the lead 
frame. Why? We'll see shortly. 

When the package IC is put into ser- 
vice, the chip heats up, as mentioned 
above. Unless heat is removed from the 
chip and the package around it, the chip 
will fall victim to a condition known as 
"thermal runaway," in which increas- 
ingly higher temperatures destroy the 
chip. 

You might expect heat to escape up- 
ward from the chip. A small amount of 
heat does follow this route, even though 
the plastic in which the chip is encased is 
a mediocre conductor of 
heat. But the lead frame on 
which the chip rests is an 
excellent conductor. Even 
though there are many dif- 
ferent kinds of plastic, of 
course, and different kinds 
of lead frames, tin), the lead 
frame does offer the easiest 
route by which heat can 
escape. 

But between the chip 
and the lead frame is the 
layer of epoxy that holds 
the chip in place. Some- 
times solder is used instead 
of epoxy. but the problem 
is the same: both epoxy and 
solder are relatively poor 
conductors of heat. Heat from the chip 
will escape via the lead frame— but only 
if it can get to the lead frame. 

This is why the attachment of the 
chip to the lead frame is so important. 
The attachment material, whether it is 
solder or epoxy, needs to be as thin as 
possible (slightly more than a thou- 
sandth of an inch is typical) and as intact 
as possible. Several things can go wrong: 

• The epoxy may crack as it shrinks 
and cures. 

• Voids (actually bubbles) may 
form — especially in solder. 

• The epoxy or solder may be sepa- 
rated (usually because of surface con- 
tamination) from the chip or the lead 
frame. 

Any of these defects can keep heat 
from escaping from the chip. And once 
the chip is in place, defects are very diffi- 
cult to detect and image with conven- 
tional detection technologies like x-ray. 
X-ray will spot a defect such as the com- 
plete absence of solder under part of a 



52 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 



TECHNOLOGY 



■ 

■■W \ 




Loft: U mmim i l u trk L M i 1 k MkM M n^in^ i k u iit*iim t Mtot p *»4t ku i li . , nm 

u\, QOOS WW TRV Sl^AlO I1B^B» HfO IKIRM^H » IW»IW»J IWIW V1OT fW mIW/ V^W^V VW f^P» •IW^PV- 
A0OVO! A CJ0S0""Op VOnw Or CMOS 000000 TO WOO TTOJnOS. A rTOCflOvO, TOO OHD TO TOO MOO 

fromo is a vital part of IC production. 





70s . Rag and noarby roojftons of two 



A t— — , . . .at . - > — *- — ^ — .^S^iL^. 

A color acovsnc pnoTO or a sonoar crop 
attochod to o Mod framo. Tnts chip has 




Mrtf wolioiiio d tf rtp» | roo« go o / kssto. 

Twb small rod oroo at too cantor may not bo 



At 7xi 

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oood tTo mmU iiow;rt m rnKt u i»oTth> 

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NOHiraMiBpwiiy nMIMmHI 



from this chip, and it would be fikwy to foi 

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chip, but doesn't usually reveal gaps. 

Defect Detection 

Detecting defects requires a new 
technology — specifically, acoustic mi- 
cro-imaging. High frequency ultrasound 
is very sensitive to internal interfaces, 
and it is nondestructive. What happens is 
that the ultrasound is partly or entirely 
blocked by cracks, voids, separations, 
and the like. 

The internal-feature photographs 
accompanying this article were made 
with the Scanning Laser Acoustic 
Microscope (SLAM, for short), made by 
Sonoscan, Inc. of Bensenville, IL. Prop- 
erly termed acoustic amplitude 
micrographs, these photos show in- 
terior views of their subjects. 

ICs (and many other objects) are 
opaque to light, but transparent to ultra- 
sound. The SLAM transmits very high 
frequency upward through an IC, and a 
scanning laser "reads" the level of ultra- 
sound that arrives at the top surface. A 



digital signal processor assigns a color to 
each level of ultrasound, and the full im- 
age is displayed on a color monitor. 

All ICs, because they contain in- 
ternal interfaces at the lead frame and 
chip, produce some sort of acoustic im- 
age. Ordinarily, the acoustic image of an 
IC with no unintended interfaces shows 
faint outlines of these features. The value 
of the SLAM is that it reveals unintended 
interfaces in an IC. 

Virtually all IC manufacturers use 
electrical tests to weed out obviously bad 
ICs. Some also use a SLAM to image 
their ICs, either before or after they are 
encased in plastic. They look especially 
for anomalies in the bond layer. If a bond 
layer shows only a few tiny voids, it will 
probably pass, because the area of a void 
is what matters. Many tiny voids, a sin- 
gle large one, or a massive separation, 
will cause an IC to be rejected. 

The SLAM also looks at the com- 
pleted IC package. Here, bubbles in the 
molten plastic can form voids, and 



cracks can occur. Any defect in the plas- 
tic is potentially serious, because it can 
destroy the hermeticity of the package 
and allow moisture to reach the chip. 

This isn't meant to be a horror story . 
Its purpose isn't to make you run to your 
computer and peek inside to see whether 
your ICs are sprouting delaminations, 
creeping with contaminants, or 
approaching thermal runaway. Most 
ICs work and keep on working. Manu- 
facturers have developed lead frame and 
package designs which largely prevent 
overheating. 

Computer stores expect most IC 
failures to occur during the first few 
weeks after the sale; these are the ICs 
with gross internal defects, and their 
replacement is generally covered by war- 
ranty. Most of the ones that survive the 
initial burn-in period will remain hale 
and hearty for the life of the machine. 
But if someday you do run across a dead 
IC, you will have a good idea of what 
caused its demise. ■ 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 33 



DO... 


H 


<y 


! 


-1 


.1 


Ml 



Our ProModem 1200 Makes 
Smart Modems Look Dumb 




ProModem 1200 
(RS-232) 



|£ PROMETHEUS 



Send Or Receive 50 Pages Of Text 
Without Tying Up Your Computer 



COMPUTER 
BUSY 




\ 

il..j 



COMPUTER 
TURNED OFF 




No wonder Smart Modems, Cats, and Maxwells 
cringe when compared to our $495 ProModem 
1200, an expandable 1200/300 baud modem 
for use with all personal computers. It costs 
less, but is smarter than the rest. 

And when you add our $99 Communica- 
tions Buffer and Alphanumeric Display options, 
ProModem 1200 becomes a veritable genius! 

Imagine, you unplug your computer, take it 
home for the weekend, and while you're gone, 
ProModem 1200 answers the phone, collects 
messages up to 50 pages long, sends out 
electronic mail, and displays all events with the 
exact time of each. Thanks to ProModem 1200, 
expensive, hard-to-use communications soft- 
ware isn't needed. The communications is in the 
modem, and electronic mail becomes a back- 
ground function, where it belongs. 




ProModem 1200M 
(Macintosh) 



Simple To Install And Use 

Our Communications Buffer is a 4 by 6 card that 
plugs into the ProModem 1200 motherboard. 
It comes with 2K of CMOS battery backed-up 
memory, expandable to 64K. Part of the mem- 
ory is used as a dialing directory with the 
balance reserved for storage. For $99 more, 
a front panel Alphanumeric Display can be 
added to show time, date, and 24 status and 
help messages. These two powerful options 
can be included at time of purchase, or can 
be added later. 

Hayes Compatible 

ProModem 1200 is Hayes compatible but that's 
where the resemblance ends. Our standard 
$495 modem includes a real-time clock/ 
calendar. Hayes charges hundreds more for a 
Smart Modem with a time-base. Nor do they 
have electronic mail capability at any price. 




ProModem 1200 contains a battery backed -up real-time 

clock/calendar, a large dialing directory and can send or 

receive messages up to 50 pages long without 

tying up the computer. 



Send for complete details and the name 
of the Prometheus dealer nearest you. 



TRuHoLLnjE- 




4545 Cushing Pkwy. • Fremont CA 94538 
CIRCLE 144 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



What's New In 
Hardware 



Russ Lockwood 




Speech Synthesizers 

Votrax has introduced two 
speech synthesizers for a wide range 
of computers, including IBM PC and 
compatibles, Apple II, Atari 400 and 
800, TRS-80 Model I, II, and Color 
Computer, Commodore 64 and Vic- 
20, and any other computer with an 
RS-232C serial interface. 

The Personal Speech System, 
built around a Z80 microprocessor 
and a special SC-01 CMOS speech 
synthesis chip, has 256 pro- 
grammable frequencies and 16 pro- 
grammable amplitude levels which 
can be adjusted to achieve various 
inflections. Votrax claims it is 95% 
accurate in translating computer 



data into conversational English. It 
includes a three-voice, eight-octave 
musical tone generator, an internal 
speaker, and a real-time pro- 
grammable clock. The unit retails for 
$395. 

Type 'N' Talk, also built around 
the SC-01 CMOS speech synthesis 
chip, is a scaled down version of the 
Personal Speech System. Votrax 
claims it is 75% accurate in translat- 
ing computer data into conversa- 
tional English. It retails for $249. 



Votrax 

1394 Rankin 
Troy, MI 48083 
(313)588-2050 



4MON 
READfR SERVICE CARD 



2400 Baud Modems 




Novation has announced the 
Professional 2400 Communications 
System, a 2400 baud auto-dial, auto- 
answer modem for the IBM PC, Ap- 
ple Macintosh, and AT&T 6300. It 



also provides 1 200 baud and 300 baud 
communication, Hayes command 
language compatibility, and 
327x/3770/3780 mainframe termi- 
nal emulation. The Mite communica- 
tions software package is included. 
The modem sells for $795. 



20409 Prairie St. 
Chatsworth,CA91311 
(818)996-5060 c,RCif4i*ON 

(800)423-5419 reader service card 



Sakata Printer 

Sakata, a manufacturer of mon- 
itors, has introduced the SP-1000, a 
100 cps bidirectional dot matrix 
printer. It features 12 variations for 




character printing, proportional 
character spacing, adjustable tractor 
and friction feed, and bit-mapped 
graphics printing at 5600 dots per 
second. The SP-1000 retails for $329. 



651 Bonnie Ln. 

Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 

(312)593-3211 

41 5 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



Racal-Vadic has unveiled the 
2400PC, an internal 2400 baud 



modem for the IBM PC, and the 
2400V, an external 2400 baud 
modem for all computers with an RS- 
232C serial interface. Both auto-dial, 
auto-answer modems are also ca- 
pable of 1200 baud and 300 baud 
communication and feature auto- 
matic switching between voice and 
data communication, pulse and tone 
dialing, and call-progress detection. 
The 24O0PC and 2400V retail for 
$795 each. 

Rotol-Vodk 

1 525 McCarthy Blvd. 

Milpitas.CA 95035 orcie4170n 

(408)946-2227 reader service card 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 33 



WHAT'S NEW IN HARDWARE 




Sumicom Printer and 
RGB Monitor 

Sunicom has announced the 
1120, an 18 cps bidirectional 
daisywheel printer. A Centronics- 
type interface is standard, with RS- 
232C serial and 1 2-bit Qume Sprint 3 
parallel interfaces optional. The 1 120 
accepts paper up to 13" wide, pro- 
vides proportional spacing, and car- 
ries a suggested retail price of $495. 

Sumicom also has introduced 
the 2120 Color Monitor, a 12" RGB 




monitor with text resolution of 25 
lines of 80 characters and graphics 
resolution of 600 x 200 pixels. The dot 
pitch is 0.38 mm. The 2 120 retails for 
$499. 



17862 East 17th St. 
Tustin, CA 92680 
(714)730-6061 



CIR(1[4180N 
READfR SERVO CARD 



IBM PC AT Expansion 
Boards 

Profit Systems has introduced 
two expansion boards for the IBM 
PC AT. AT Power is a multifunction 
expansion board that holds up to 
4Mb RAM and includes both serial 
and parallel ports. A second serial or 
game port is optional. The base 
configuration of AT Power, with 
128K RAM, retails for $495. 

Multigraph, a monochrome or 
color graphics adapter board, has 
monochrome resolution of up to 720 
x 700 pixels and color resolution of 
640 x 200 pixels. The base price of 
Multigraph is $499. 

Profit Systems 

4655 Old Ironsides Dr. 

Suite 400 

™™ 7; CA 9505 ° «ai «' on 

(408) 748-955 1 re aoer servo card 



Plotter Kit 




Heath has released the IR-5208 
Digital X-Y Plotter, a $349.95 kit 
version of the one-pen Sweet-P Plot- 
ter. A $19.95 software support pack- 
age, which includes a parallel 
interface cable, a tutorial, and four 
color pens, is available. 



Benton Harbor, MI 49022 
(616)982-3210 

CIRCIE 422 ON RE AOER SERVO CARD 



Hard Disk Drive for 
Macintosh 

Corvus Systems has introduced 
the Omnidrive, a line of hard disk 
drives available in 5Mb, 11Mb, 
1 6Mb, and 45Mb versions for the Ap- 
ple Macintosh. Each drive comes 
with a 15' interface cable and appro- 



priate system software. 

Retail prices range from $1995 
for the 5Mb model to $4995 for the 
45Mb model. 

Corvus Sy i twits 

2 100 Corvus Dr. 

San Jose, CA 95 124 aRa.E4230N 

(408)559-7000 reader service card 



Bernoulli Box for 
Macintosh 

Iomega has introduced the Ber- 
noulli Box, a 5Mb storage system, for 
the Macintosh. The Box stores data 
on removable cartridges and offers 
access time of 50 milliseconds. The 
Bernoulli Box retails for $1895, with 
cartridges selling for $59 each. 



4190N 
READER SERVO CARD 



4646 S. 1500 West 
Ogden.UT 84403 
(801)399-2171 



IBM PC Reset Button 

Security Microsystems Consul- 
tants has introduced PC Reset, a kit 
that allows users to install a reset but- 
ton on the IBM PC. A module re- 
places a ROM chip, and the reset 
button mounts in an already existing 
hole in the rear panel of the system 
unit. PC Reset retails for $89.95. 

Security Microsystems Consultants 
16FlaggPl.Suitel02 
Staten Island, NY 10304 
(212)667-1019 

ORQE 420 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



Voice Input/Output 
Board 

NEC America has released 
SAR-10 Voice-Plus, a voice recog- 
nition and audio response expansion 
board for the IBM PC. NEC uses a 




custom chip with a 250-word capabil- 
ity to digitize spoken input. An 
ADPCM chip reproduces speech. 
The SAR-10 stores up to 65 seconds 
of audio response. 

Utility programs allow users to 
integrate voice input and output into 
software. The SAR-10 carries a sug- 
gested retail price of $1495. 

NEC A/nenco 

8 Old Sod Farm Rd. 

^fiV^^ 1747 COE4240N 

(516)753-7000 reader service c ard 



56 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



THE WORLD'S MOST COMPLETE 

REFERENCE AND SOURCEBOOKS 

FOR MICROCOMPUTERS! 




if you own or use a microcomputer, 
and you're in the market for new 
software, peripherals, and add-ons. 
you need current information that will 
help you make the right decisions at the 
right prices. 
If you're new to microcomputing, you 
need a guidebook that will help you 
understand what's available on the 
market and what services will help you 
choose the right system at the right 
price. 
No matter who you are. you need the 
guides and sourcebooks that both 
experts and beginners turn to-you need 
a Ziff-Davis Computer Buyers Guide! 

A+ BUYERS GUIDE 

For the most complete and current list- 
ing of over 3.000 software, hardware, 
peripherals, services and organizations 
for the Apple II series. III. Lisa and Mac- 
intosh! Published twice a year so it's 
always timely. A+ BUYERS GUIDE is the 
definitive source for Apple computing 
needs and services. $5.95. 

PC BUYERS GUIDE 

This is the reference guide for all IBM PC. 
PCXT. PCjr. PCAT and compatible owners 
and users. Published every 3 months, 
there is no other guide as complete or 
timely as PC BUYERS GUIDE! Updated 
quarterly to reflect the newest changes 
and innovations in IBM PC technology. 
PC BUYERS GUIDE brings you full listings 
on products, software, services, add-ons 
and compatibility requirements. $7.95 



CREATIVE COMPUTING 
SOFTWARE BUYER'S GUIDE 

A comprehensive buyer's guide to the 
leading software and application pack- 
ages for Apple. Atari. Commodore, TRS-80. 
and IBM microcomputers. Complete list- 
ings, compatibility specifications and per- 
formance reviews covering over 1 .000 
business, education, personal and recre- 
ational programs and packages. $3.95 

FOR FASTER SERVICE 

PHONE TOLL FREE 1 800 631 8112 

(In NJ only 1-201-540 0445) 



CREATIVE COMPUTING BUYER'S 
GUIDE TO PERSONAL COMPUTERS 
AND PERIPHERALS 

If you want to buy your first system or 
expand your current system, don't make 
a decision without consulting this buyer's 
guide! You'll be provided with complete 
reviews on the leading microcomputers 
and peripherals on sale today. Compiled 
by the editors of CREATIVE COMPUTING, 
the'l magazine of computer software, 
applications and evaluations. $3.95 



r* 



From the publishers of A+. PC. PC TECH JOURNAL PC WEEK and CREATIVE COMPUTING 

ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CCPT ffMf. 39 EAST HANOVER AVENUE. MORRIS PLAINS. NJ 07950 



Please send me the Buyers Guide listed below: 

Tit* Qty. 




What** New In 
Software 



Russ Lockwood 



Accounting Program for Lotus 1-2-3 



GNP has released CPA + , a fully 
integrated, menu-driven accounting 
program that operates with Lotus I- 
2-5. It includes accounts receivable, 
accounts payable, general ledger, and 
payroll functions. Data are stored in 
memory for instant access. The $695 
package runs on the IBM PC or 
compatible, requires 356K RAM, 
and includes a demonstration disk 
and tutorial. 



GNP 

1244 E.Colorado Blvd. 
Pasadena, CA 9 1106 
(818)577-7767 



C1RCIE425 0N 
READER SERVO CARD 






> 



@& 



The Vt»»mwiK ltw«i "■ 



General Loba 

Acixunt* Pjy*bk 



C64 Spreadsheet 

Cardco has introduced Calc 
Nowf/64, a spreadsheet for the Com- 
modore 64. It has a capacity of 64 
rows by 254 columns, reserves 39K of 
memory for data, and provides on- 
screen help. It supports logical opera- 
tions and, or and not; standard and 
special mathematical functions; and 
horizontal and vertical windowing. It 
includes an on-screen calculator and 
carries suggested retail price of 
$39.95. 



Conko 

300S.Topeka 
Wichita, KS 67202 
(316)267-6525 



CIRCK4260J 
READER SERVO CARD 



Word Processor for HP Portable 




Lexisoft has released the Spell- 
binder word processing and office 
management system for the Hewlett- 
Packard Portable computer. Func- 
tions include word processing, mail 
merge, spelling checker, forms and 
data handling, columnar manipula- 
tion, and calculator. Files created on 



the HP Portable can be read by Spell- 
binder on the HP 150. The package 
retails for $495. 



Lexisoft 
Box 1378 
Davis, CA 956 17 
(916)758-3630 



aRClE4270N 
READER SERVO CARD 



Software Updates for 
PCAT,etal. 

Ashton-Tate has updated its 
integrated software package Frame- 
work to support the IBM PC AT and 
AT&T 6300. The company has also 
improved the copy protection system 
to allow Framework to be installed on 
a hard disk without the need to place 
the "key" disk in the floppy drive. 
Framework retails for $695, and the 
update is available to registered own- 
ers for $25. 

Aihton-Tole 

101 50 W.Jefferson Blvd. 

Culver City, CA 90230 

13)204-5570 reader serv> 



Microrim has released IBM PC 
AT versions of its R.base relational 
database management systems and 
Clout natural language software. 
R.base retails for $495, and Clout re- 
tails for $249. 



3380- 146th PI. SE 
Bellevue.WA 98007 
(206)641-6619 *AD«s«m?ARD 



MultiMate Update 

Multimate International has up- 
dated its MultiMate word processor 
to include proportional spacing, an 
improved merge utility to access stan- 
dard ASCII files, document protec- 
tion options, and support for 275 
printers. MultiMate requires an IBM 
PC or compatible and 256K. RAM. 

Multimate International has 
also released a version of MultiMate 
for the HP 1 50 computer. Both ver- 
sions retail for $495. 



52 Oakland Ave., N. 
East Hartford, CT 06108 

UUJJ3ZZ-ZI 10 reader servo card 



58 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



TM 



MEGAWORKS 
WITH 



APPLEWORKS: 




You already know AppleWorks™ is 
the powerful program that combines 
the three most popular applications 
for your Apple lie and lie. Its only 
drawback is the absence of two 
key functions. 
That's why Megaworks with 
AppleWorks. 

Megaworks is the mail merge and 
spelling correction program 
designed exclusively to complete the 
AppleWorks package. Your knowl- 
edge of AppleWorks makes 

AppleWorks and Apple lie and lie are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. Inc. 



Mega Works simple to use. Mail 
merge lets you print personalized 
form letters from a single master 
letter and list. The spelling checker 
corrects misspelled words in docu- 
ments and "word wrap" retains its 
original format, a function unavail- 
able in many popular programs. 
The dictionary allows you to person- 
alize your work with the addition 
of 10,000 words to its 40,000 
word library. 



Megaworks completes AppleWorks. 

See the complete works for your 
Apple lie and //c today at a dealer 
near you. Or send for our free, no 
obligation brochure. 

WE MAKF ~J COMPUTERS WORK HAJKSFR 

5703 Obcrlin Dr. _ 60^**" 

San Diego, C A 92121 

619-450-1230 

CIRCLE 132 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



WHAT'S NEW IN SOFTWARE 



Integrated Software 

Electronic Arts, long known for 
its excellent games, has entered the 
business market with Get Organized!, 
an integrated software package for 
the IBM PC, PCjr, PC AT, and 
compatibles. It features a full func- 
tion word processor, address book 
with mail merge, telecommunica- 
tions manager, index card filing sys- 
tem, calendar! calculator, and 
notepad. It provides multiple win- 
dowing capability, comes with $200 
in coupons for various telecommuni- 
cations services, requires 256K 
RAM, and retails for $ 1 99. 

Hectromc Aits 

2755 Campus Dr. 

San Mateo, C A 94403 cac . f . vrt , 

/jictc-Ti -m-ji tlRC.lt 431 ON 

(415)571-7171 READER SERVO CARD 



Educational Software 

MECC has introduced five 
educational programs for Apple II se- 
ries computers. 

Jenny's Journeys ($29.95) re- 
inforces map reading skills. Sound 
Tracks ($29.95) allows children to 
compose and play music. The Market 
Place ($29.95) teaches basic eco- 
nomic concepts. Discovery Lab ($44) 
introduces the scientific process. And 
Pets. Ltd. ($43) allows children to se- 
lect and care for a variety of pets. 

MKC 

3490 Lexington Ave., N. 

St. Paul, MN 551 12 «,™,.,„™ 

mtt\Aat i<nn ORCIE4320N 

(012)481-3500 READER SERVICE CARD 



Floppy Disks 

Fuji Photo Film USA has in- 
troduced 5.25" floppy disks for use 
with the 1.2Mb IBM PC AT disk 
drive. 

Fuji PhofoHm USA 

Magnetic Products Div. 

350 Fifth Ave. 

New York, NY 101 18 ^^^ 

(212)736-3335 reader service card 



Polaroid has introduced a line of 
3.5", 5.25", and 8" floppy disks. 



575 Technology Sq. 

^™ g ^ A02139 CRCE4340N 

(617)577-2000 reader service card 



Walt Disney Software 




Walt Disney has entered the 
software business with three educa- 
tional software packages pro- 
grammed by Sierra On-Line for the 
Apple II, IBM PC/PCjr, Com- 
modore 64, and Radio Shack Color 
Computer. All programs retail for 
$39.95. 

Mickey's Space Adventure uses 
an adventure game format to teach 
children about our Solar System. 



Donald Duck 's Playground promotes 
money-handling skills with an 
emphasis on change making. Winnie 
the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood 
develops mapping and reading skills. 

Woh Disney Personal 
vOwpufec jOttwok 
500 S. Buena Vista St. 
Burbank,CA91521 ^....^ 

(818)840-5965 readersovqcam) 



Graphics Software from AT&T 



AT&T has introduced two 
graphics software packages for the 
AT&T 6300 equipped with either the 
AT&T Video Display Adapter or the 
AT&T Image Capture Board. Prices 
have not been set. 

A T& T Paint and Image Process- 
ing Software features color manipula- 
tion, text overlay, merging of 
multiple images, drawing, and lay- 
out. It can also create NAPLPS 
frames for videotext services. 

A T& T Business Graphics Presen- 



tation Software is compatible with 
A T& T Paint and is used to create t wo- 
and three-dimensional charts and 
graphs. It can use data from Lotus 1- 
2-3, SuperCalcJ, and other spread- 
sheets and may be programmed to 
display a "slide show" of images. 

AT&T 

2002 Wellesley Blvd. 

m™?K N46219 a"*—™ 
(317)352-6126 reader service card 



Microsoft Macro Assembler 



Microsoft has released a new 
version of its Macro Assembler. It 
supports the entire Intel family of 16- 
bit microprocessors, including the 
8088, 8086, 8087, 80186, 80286, and 
80287. An extensive set of program 
development utilities, including a 
new symbolic debugger, is included 



with the assembler. The Macro 
Assembler retails for $ 1 50. 

Miuoiult 

10700 Northup Way 

Box 97200 

Bellevue, W A 98009 aai 43? w 

(206)828-8080 reader servo card 



60 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



TAKE THE FEAR OUT OF USING 
THE TOOLS OF MODERN MAN. 



Primitive man drew on the walls of his cave because he 
knew a central truth . . . that a picture is worth a thousand 
words. The same is true today about computer training. 
To get the most out of using a computer and 
its software, you need a comfortable training 
system you're already familiar with. Some- 
thing you can use and enjoy in the privacy 
of your own home, office ... or cave. It begins 
with your television. 

INTRODUCING®! 

CompuTutor, developed by Chase 
Scientific, is a remarkable series of plain 
language computer training programs 
on videocassette. CompuTutor 
gives you an immediate hands-on 
experience by providing real-life 
personal computing applications. 
The method is simple. Using 
your TV and videocassette 
recorder side by side with your 
personal computer, you set the 
pace. Start and stop the video 
program at any point. Skip 
sections you already know 
and review others as many 
times as you want. 






Within minutes you'll begin to use your computer with ease 
and confidence. 

As entertaining as they are informative, CompuTutor hard- 
ware and software training systems are designed 
specifically for your IBM "-PC. . .Apple" lie. . . 
TRS-SO" Model 4 and many compatibles. Popular 
software like Lotus 1-2-3 . . .Framework™. . . 
dBASE II \ . dBASEIII . . WordStar". . . 
SuperSCRIPSIT and VisiCalc" perform even 
better because CompuTutor makes them 
easier to understand, through state-of-the-art 
video technology— with a warm, human touch. 

Start learning today. . .Start using tonight, with 
CompuTutor from Chase Scientific. And put 
the tools of modern man to work for you. 

Order CompuTutor Now. For Visa and 
MasterCard orders Call Toll Free: (In 
California) 1 (800) 528-2554. (Outside 
California) Call Collect: 1 (213) 395-7884; 
Mon.-Sat. 9-5pm (Pacific). Or, if more 
convenient, fill in the order form below. 





ORDER FORM 



PLEASE SELECT PROGRAMS FOR YOUR COMPUTER: 

(Call About Compatibles) 



Titles 



Machine 



Using Your Machine 
Using VISICALC 
Using WORDSTAR 
Using SuperSCRIPSIT 
Using dBASE II 
Using dBASE III 
Using LOTUS 12-3 
Using FRAMEWORK 



IBM-PC 


APPLE lie 


TRS80.IV 




MA) 


(NA) 


(NA) 




(NA) 




(NA) 




(NA) 


(NA) 




(NA) 


(NA) 




(NA) 


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Video Format (Please check): D VHSOtETA 



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EDITORIAL 



Educational Computing: 
Where Are We Now? 



Betsy Staples 



This issue of Creative Computing fo- 
cuses on the use of computers in 
education — hardly a new idea. Uni- 
versities and colleges have been using 
mainframes and minis in mathematics, 
statistics, and other quantitative subject 
areas for decades. Microcomputers have 
been worming their way into all levels of 
education for close to a decade. 

Educational computing still has a 
long way to go, however, before it be- 
comes the integral part of the educa- 
tional process that computer literate 
parents and educators want it to be. 

The problems faced by people who 
want to use computers as educational 
tools have changed over the years. It 
used to be that hardware was the pri- 
mary obstacle. Early cassette-based 
Apple IPs, TRS-80 Model Is, and Com- 
modore Pets were balky beasts that 
could be relied upon primarily to fail 
when they were needed most. (How 
many contemporary computerists have 
ever heard the bone-chilling screech of 
a computer program being played 
through the speaker of a cassette player 
as its user searches for the correct 
volume?) 

Disk drives were scarce luxuries — 
and far too temperamental (not to men- 
tion expensive) to expose to the rigors of 
classroom use. (The original line of Cre- 
ative Computing Software included 
quite a few educational programs, but 
only two floppies.) 

Today the computer hardware in- 
dustry is of age. The new machines are 
far from flawless, of course, but for the 
most part, we can call them "reliable" 
with a straight face. The current genera- 
tion of Apples, the capable Commodore 
64, the old faithful Atari line, the newer 
Tandy models, and many other micros 
have proven their durability in countless 
classrooms around the world. 

And disk-based systems are now the 
norm. Which brings us to the problem at 
hand: Now that most of the hardware 
hurdles have been overcome, the pri- 
mary barrier to effective utilization of 
computers in education is lack of high 
quality software. 

Yes, we've said it before, but un- 
fortunately, it is still true that a great deal 
of the so-called educational software on 



the market today is worthless. We are re- 
minded that it is true every month when 
we try to find worthy products to review 
in "Growing Up Literate." We find that 
the products of only a few manufacturers 
rise to the top of the pile month after 
month. So many of the others suffer from 
poor pedagogy, inadequate documenta- 
tion, amateurish programming, lack of 
support, and a plethora of lesser ills. 
"How discouraging it must be," we 
think, "to be a parent or educator drift- 
ing helplessly in this uncharted sea of 
highly touted, expensive, and potentially 
useless software." 

What's a mother (father, teacher, 
grandparent) to do? The most important 
thing is to make every attempt to preview 
educational software before purchasing 
it. This formal sounding "preview" can 
take any form from looking at a friend's 
copy to sitting through a formal presen- 
tation by a salesperson. Probably the 
most practical way is to ask an employee 
of your local computer store to let you 
play with a program for a few minutes 
before you decide whether to buy. An- 
other way, of course, is to look for favor- 
able reviews here in the pages of Creative 
Computing. But since space constraints 
allow us to evaluate only a few packages 
each month, we may never be able to 
publish the review you are looking for. 

You can, however, apply the same 
criteria we apply to a package when you 
do your own evaluation. Long-time 
readers and those who keep up with 
"Growing Up Literate" probably have a 
pretty good idea what these are, but for 
new readers, we list them here in no 
particular order. 

• Purpose. Different types of educa- 
tional programs serve different pur- 
poses. The most obvious, and the easiest 
to program, is drill and practice. Drill 
and practice programs, many of which 
wear the guise of games, definitely have a 
place in theeducational process, but they 
must not be confused with programs that 
actually teach. To make good use of a 
drill and practice program, the student 
must have some knowledge of the sub- 
ject matter being drilled. A tutorial pro- 
gram that is designed to teach a series of 
concepts or facts can be used to advan- 
tage by almost any student in the recom- 



mended age range without prior intro- 
duction to the material. The last major 
category of educational software is 
simulations. Simulations use experience 
to teach both facts and concepts. Using a 
program that requires him to bring a ma- 
laria epidemic under control, for exam- 
ple, the student learns facts about 
mosquitoes, chemical pesticides, and 
treatment of disease. He also assimilates 
(painlessly, we hope) important ecologi- 
cal concepts. 

• Documentation. The user's man- 
ual does not have to be fancy, but it 
should be well organized and free of 
spelling and grammatical errors. It never 
ceases to amaze us how many programs 
that claim to be educational come with 
error-fraught documentation. The 
user's manual should also tell you what 
the program is designed to accomplish 
— it should list educational objectives. 

• Pedagogy. When we say that a 
program must be pedagogically sound, 
we mean that it must teach or drill facts 
and concepts that are worth knowing in 
a manner that is consistent with proven 
educational techniques. Asking the stu- 
dent, for example, to choose the cor- 
rectly spelled word from a list of 
incorrectly spelled words is not peda- 
gogically sound. 

• Programming. The program 
should take advantage of the latest hard- 
ware advances and software innovations 
that your computer offers. Good graph- 
ics add to the appeal of a program, but if 
the student must sit idle while hi-res 
screens are loading from disk, he will 
soon come to think of them as an annoy- 
ance rather than an enhancement. There 
should always be a way to "give up" on a 
question or return to a menu without 
resetting the machine. Other good 
programming techniques are less ob- 
vious, but software written by an imagi- 
native professional programmer will 
always stand out when compared with 
programs of lesser quality. 

Obviously, there are many fine 
points to be considered in each of these 
categories. As you become familiar with 
good software (and bad) you will de- 
velop your own checklist and soon find 
that you can identify a quality package 
after only a few minutes of inspection. ■ 



62 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



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This directory is intended to 
provide readers with an 
overview of the educational 
software market. The packages 
described here are representative 
of the software available from the 
various manufacturers, and the 
descriptions are based on infor- 
mation supplied by those manu- 
facturers. Inclusion of a product 
in this listing does not imply that 
it has been evaluated or endorsed 
by the editors. For more informa- 
tion, contact the manufacturers 
directly (and please mention that 
you read about their products in 
Creative Computing). 

American Educational 
Computer, Inc. 

Basing its marketing approach on 
teacher-designed, curriculum-based 
programs, AEC uses a three-level ap- 
proach in its software. Students must 
first complete an objective assignment 
and then can proceed to an action game 
using the information gained in the first 
stage. Finally, parents and teachers can 
add more advanced lessons geared to the 
child's abilities. AEC Spelling for grades 
two to eight features a basic 4233-word 
vocabulary which can be expanded as re- 
quired. Basic grammar, vocabulary, 
geography, and Spanish skills are taught 
with AEC MatchMaker, which com- 
bines sound, interactive lessons, and 
graphics for all age ranges. EasyReader 
program topics include basic phonics, 
word structure, and comprehension 
skills and are organized to coincide with 
the regular grade school curriculum. 
Interactive procedures tailor the lessons 
to the individual student with the soft- 
ware keeping track of the users by name 
and progress level. 

System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

2450 Embarcadero Way 

Palo Alto, CA 94303 

(415)494-2021 



CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Educational software graduates 

to new levels at 

school, home, and business 

Carol A. Crowell 



Artworx Soft ware Company, Inc. 

Filling in the missing link and in- 
troducing a monkey to educational soft- 
ware define the two distinctive product 
categories of Artworx. Three individual 
programs, Math Factory, MonkeyNews, 
and Monkey Builder, make up the Mon- 
key Series for grades one to six, using 
Marc the Monkey to teach basic learning 
skills in arithmetic, reading, and spell- 
ing. MonkeyBuilder, a vocabulary build- 
ing program, uses a heuristic design 
which automatically adjusts the diffi- 
culty level by evaluating the student's re- 
sponses for accuracy and speed. 
Incorporating a memory device that 
associates a word with a vivid visual im- 
age, the Linkword foreign language se- 
ries is designed to impart a conversation- 
al vocabulary of 400 words along with 
the basic rules of grammar in about 10 
hours in Spanish, French, German, or 
Italian. 

System: Apple II, C64. Atari 
Address: 

150 North Main St. 

Fail-port, NY 14450 

(716)425-2833 

Ascension De signs A.D. 1984 

Promoting the philosophy that the 
home computer is a useful tool for teach- 
ing Christian values and Bible-based 
principles, Ascension is marketing what 
it says are "non-denominational, non- 
doctrinaire educational programs de- 
signed to teach, reinforce and uphold 
spiritually enriching, life-building prin- 
ciples." Using graphics and animation, 
Right Again! is a game-tutorial program 
that employs an electronic angel to guide 
children ages 8 to 12 through Biblical 
history, stories, regions, and values. A 
book of Bible stories and geography also 
is included. Other Bible-based programs 
are planned both for additional age 
groups and as family-oriented activities. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

6108 N. Western 

Oklahoma City, OK 73 1 1 8 

(405)848-5773 



Avant Garde Publishing Corp. 

A combination of error analysis and 
step-by-step demonstration that mirrors 
the actual teaching/learning process be- 
tween teacher and student is the basis for 
four new programs in math and logic. In- 
troductory and Intermediate Algebra 
programs provide progressive difficulty 
levels for grades eight through 12 with 
automatic timing and scoring so that stu- 
dents can compete against each other or 
the clock. Logic Workout introduces 
intermediate and high school students to 
classical logic and syllogisms with proof 
patterns and random combinations. The 
Magic Cash Register for younger chil- 
dren sets up a store with products, pric- 
ing and simulated purchases. 
System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

1907 Garden Ave. 

Eugene, OR 97403 

(503)345-3043 

Bantam El ectronic Publishing 

Following the trend of large book 
publishing houses entering the educa- 
tional software field, Bantam Books is 
preparing to issue three lines of specialty 
programs after almost two years of 
development. The series are Selfware, a 
line of self-improvement software for 
adults; Micro Workshop, learning games 
for children; and Living Literature, 
interactive fiction for all ages. Colorfully 
illustrated and generally based upon 
best-selling books, the software is de- 
signed to teach self-expression and 
deductive reasoning as well as self- 
improvement. Fantastic Animals is a 
learning game, for ages 4 to 9, that 
teaches animal and body part recog- 
nition and animal habitat identification. 
Creative Contraptions, for ages 7 and up, 
encourages children to create clever, hu- 
morous, and zany machines to accom- 
plish everyday tasks. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

666 Fifth Ave. 

New York, NY 10103 

(212)765-6500 



Batteries Included 



Based upon traditional typing 
school methods, the Keys to Typing 
instructional software is a 32-lesson, six- 
week course for students from inter- 
mediate levels through high school that 
produces an average 40 words per 
minute typing proficiency. Featuring an 
error-proof, cursor-controlled menu, 
the program provides more than 400 in- 
dividual exercises ranging from key in- 
troduction to specially designed typing 
games for reinforcing previous lessons 
and increasing speed. 
System: C64 
Address: 

30 Mural St. 

Richmond Hill, ON L4B1B5 

(416)881-9941 



Baudville 



Making the computer scene with 
color graphics, animation, and 
courseware designed to illuminate the 
visual media, Baudville shapes inter- 
active educational programs and 
companion libraries to a wide variety of 
age groups and applications. Take 1 sets 
the stage with full color movie and car- 
toon capabilities, while the animation li- 
braries allow the user to develop plots 
and characterization. Heroes & Villains 
and Actors & Actions provide an assort- 
ment of fully developed actors, actions, 
and scenes, allowing the user to become 
writer, director, and temperamental art- 
ist. The Shape libraries are electronic 
stencils and templates with text fonts 
and shape tables for astronomy, botany, 
chemistry, anatomy, and math. 
System: Apple, C64 
Address: 

1001 Medical Park Dr., S.E. 

Grand Rapids, MI 49506 

(616)957-3036 



Brainworks, Inc. 



Using a concept of discovery learn- 
ing that incorporates fundamental 
intellectual skills such as logic, memory, 
and problem-solving, this company 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 65 



EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW 



claims that its software helps people 
learn how to learn. Its latest product, 
Chip wits, uses principles of artificial 
intelligence to teach robots to think for 
themselves while familiarizing the user 
with hundreds of behavioral combina- 
tions that could apply to real people in 
"real-life adventure situations." No 
programming knowledge is required; 
programming of the robots is accom- 
plished with illustrated chips, or icons, 
that give the robots an almost unlimited 
variety of people-like qualities and 
behavior patterns. Robots are sent on a 
variety of dangerous missions of increas- 
ing difficulty, and in the event of failure, 
are brought back to the workshop for 
brain draining and re-chipping. Another 
mind challenging program is 
BrainTrain, which is designed to im- 
prove memory, to determine right or left 
brain dominancy, and to measure the 
improvement, if any, in both hemi- 
spheres. 

System: Apple II and Macintosh 
Address: 

24009 Ventura Blvd. 

Calabasas,CA91302 

(818)884-6911 



Broderbund Software 



Mystery, muppets, and modules in- 
troduce a new Explorations series of 
"educationally entertaining software" 
for elementary and intermediate levels. 
The S.S. Microship sets sail in Welcome 
Aboard, A Muppet Cruise to Computer 
Literacy with passengers programming 
the vessel's course, glamorizing Miss 
Piggy with computer-aided designs, us- 
ing word processing and electronic mail, 
and managing ship's comedian Fozzie 
Bear's database of truly terrible jokes. 
Castaways can find out where they are 
with Where in the World is Carmen 
Sandeigo?, an international mystery that 
comes with a 1985 World Almanac and 
Book of Facts and a map of the world, 
and uses full-color animation and sound 
effects to teach geography and problem 
solving. Science Toolkit is a combination 
software and hardware package that 
turns the computer into a real science 
lab. Temperature- and light-sensing 
probes connect to the joystick port while 
on-screen instruments include a light 
meter, thermometer, timer, ohmmeter, 
and strip-chart recorder. 
System: Apple II 
Address: 

17 Paul Dr. 

San Rafael, CA 94903 

(415)479-1170 



CBS Software 



Time and the cycles of life have been 
preempted by CBS in its schedule of 
educational programs targeted for spe- 
cific periods. The range of software and 
defined times include preschool, fun and 
learning, school, career, and leisure. 
Ages 3 to 6 can visit Sesame Street with 
Big Bird's Special Delivery, an object 
recognition and classification game. 
Turning 7 means turning on Webster: the 




Word Game to learn spelling at progres- 
sive speeds and levels of difficulty. Suc- 
cess with Math covers number manipula- 
tion from basic arithmetic to quadratic 
equations, and every level from ele- 
mentary to geriatric. Mastering the SA T 
and Mastering the College Boards: En- 
glish Composition are self-paced, com- 
prehensive programs for review and 
preparation. Adult education includes 
Personal Development and Managing/or 
Success, self-paced, interactive pro- 
grams that utilize case studies and 
simulations of day-to-day situations for 
practice and evaluation. Adults and 
older students can increase their leisure 
time by completing Micro SpeedRead. 
Twelve tangled webs of crime and 
puzzlement put powers of logic and 
deduction to the test with Mystery Mas- 
ter: Murder by the Dozen. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

One Fawcett PI. 

Greenwich, CT 06386 

(203)622-2525 



Commodore Business 
Machines, Inc. 



Open-ended programs that run dif- 
ferently for each player, and differently 
each time they are used, is the goal of 
Commodore, a company that says its 
educational software can be used for a 
wide range of educational levels without 
becoming stale. For example, its Just 
Imagine program, which technically is 
for an age range of 4 to 14, can be used at 
the kindergarten level as well as for older 
children since the basic program can be 
altered to suit the differing needs of these 
groups. A creative writing program, this 
software contains a library of scenes and 
objects which can be combined to form 
pictures on the scene. The user then 
writes an imaginary story describing the 
activity. When the program is operated, 
the objects and people in the foreground 
are animated to form a continuous motion 
picture effect. The Reading Professor, 
for ages 1 2 to adult, isdesigned to increase 
reading speed and comprehension either 
as part of a school program or in inde- 
pendent study. The program consists of 
10 lessons at four difficulty levels. 
System: C64, Plus 4 
Address: 

1200 Wilson Dr. 

West Chester, PA 19380 

(215)431-9100 



Compu-Teach 



Introducing a curriculum of inte- 
grated educational software, Compu- 
Teach says it is basing its instructional 
concept on providing children with a 
sense of control over the computer in or- 
der to create a feeling that the computer 
is responding to them. For young chil- 
dren beginning at age 2, Sign Play is an 
interactive program designed around 
the prevalence of signs, such as "Walk" 
and "Stop," in the everyday world. The 
object is to teach the child first to make 
the connection between words and signs 
with distinctive shapes and then to com- 
prehend the letters on the signs as parts 
of a word independent of the shape and 
color of the sign. Word Pieces continues 
the process with drills to familiarize the 
child with the letters of the alphabet, 
provide ways of distinguishing between 
the letters, and then build the child's 
vocabulary. 

System: IBM PC, Apple II 
Address: 

240 Bradley St. 

New Haven, CT 065 11 

(203)777-7738 



** CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 




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Data Processing Educational Corp, 

Students and business people can 
learn computer literacy with Instant Tu- 
tor, a training series which currently in- 
cludes tutorials covering how to use the 
IBM PC and DOS, WordStar. dBase II, 
and SuperCalc on the IBM PC and com- 
patibles. Designed for computer novices, 
each program features eight to 10 self- 
paced, individual lessons with instruc- 
tions, review sections, optional quizzes, 
and explanatory simulations. Users can 
follow the scan option for a quick over- 
view of major topics or the study option 
for in-depth instruction. A reference 
guide includes additional practice ex- 
ercises. 

System: IBM PC 
Address: 

4S88 Kenny Rd. 

Columbus, OH 43220 

(614)457-0577 

Davidson & Associates 

Stressing motivation as the primary 
factor in encouraging students to in- 
crease basic skills in spelling, reading, 
vocabulary, and math, Davidson says its 
programs turn educational drudgery 
into educational fun. Animation, color, 
and optional sound effects enhance Spell 
It, a progressive spelling tutor and game 
combination that starts with 1000 of the 
most commonly misspelled words and 
incorporates spelling rules for ages 10 to 
adult. Word A ttack is a vocabulary 
building system with words and sen- 
tences illustrating usage presented on 
nine different levels for ages 8 to adult. 
With more than 600 problems in basic 
arithmetic, including decimals and frac- 
tions. Math Blaster is targeted for ages 6 
through 1 2 and allows parents and 
teachers to add additional problems. 
Speed Reader II is a reading develop- 
ment course professionally designed to 
increase speed and comprehension with 
30 minutes of daily practice while 
providing a grade level analyzer to deter- 
mine reading level and progress. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, and C64 
Address: 

6069 Grove Oak Place # 1 2 
Rancho Palos Verdes, C A 90274 
(213)373-0971 

DCH Educa tional Software 

In business for just under a century, 
D. C. Heath feels it knows enough about 
educational standards and requirements 
to offer a full 30-day trial on any of its 



classroom software products that cover 
grades K - 1 2 in a wide variety of subjects. 
Computer aided instruction programs 
include graphics, tutorials, assignment 
and review capabilities, and interaction 
with managerial systems for tracking 
student progress and generating class 
lists and test results, as well as individual 
and class diagnostic reports. Among the 
products offered is Quill, a four-module 
software program that teaches writing 
skills and reinforces the importance of 




planning, drafting, revising, and sharing 
writing with the help of a computer. The 
study of earth, life, and physical sciences 
is provided in the company's series of 
nine interactive programs that allow stu- 
dents to test ideas, work with simula- 
tions, and formulate hypotheses. Enns 
Mathematics Software consists of 19, 
test-independent programs grouped into 
course packages with color graphics, tu- 
torials, and drill and practice activities. 
System: IBM PC, Apple, C64, TRS-80 
Address: 

125 Spring St. 

Lexington, MA 02 1 73 

(800)428-8071 

De signWare 

Coming to the aid of parents who 
need to encourage their children to do 
homework, DesignWare has developed 
a series of interactive educational pro- 
grams that blend teaching with 
entertainment. Easily customized to 
supplement current school assignments, 
the programs cover core subjects and ba- 
sic skills at several difficulty levels for 
students ages 5 to 1 8. As a reporter on 
The Grammar Examiner, children learn 



grammar skills by editing hundreds of 
humorous news stories. Family history 
can be added to States & Trails, a course 
in U.S. geography that discusses land 
forms, trivia, and locations of historic 
events. Solving groups of equations in 
Mission: Algebra helps rescue a stricken 
space ship while the computer monitors 
the student's progress. 
System: IBM PC, Apple, C64, Atari 
Address: 

185 Berry St. 

San Francisco, C A 94 1 07 

(415)546-1866 

EduWare 

A comprehensive line of tutorial 
and simulation software that emphasizes 
a one-on-one learning situation between 
an enthusiastic student and the un- 
divided attention of a very smart, end- 
lessly patient instructor is the special 
pervue of this company with programs 
for pre-teens to adult. Typical of this ap- 
proach is Wilderness, a survival simula- 
tion that draws upon interrelated 
databases dealing with weather, topog- 
raphy, animal and plant life, and health 
conditions specific to particular geo- 
graphic areas of the world. Using a 
graphics generating system that creates 
three-dimensional panoramas which 
change depending upon the player's 
point of view, the game provides two sur- 
vival scenarios for players trekking 
through the unknown. There are 10 lev- 
els of difficulty and an assortment of 
toxic plants, inclement weather, and agi- 
tated wildlife. 
System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

28035 Dorothy Dr. 

Agoura Hills, CA 91301 

(818)706-0661 

Electronic Courseware Systems, Inc. 

While extensive music software is 
the keynote of ECS, managing a class- 
room learning environment is the hall- 
mark of the company's educational 
philosophy. Three Midi-Music ware pro- 
grams using an interface board, syn- 
thesizer, and the computer are designed 
to teach basic skills in music. Keyboard 
Note Drill increases speed in identifying 
notes randomly placed on the bass and 
treble staves with response time adjusted 
to the level of difficulty. Increasing tonal 
memory of a series of pitches played by 
the computer is the goal of Super Chal- 
lenger, an aural-visual game. Keyboard 
Jazz Harmonies is a six-part program 



VOLUME 11 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING *7 



EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW 



developed to teach chord symbols, 7th- 
chord recognition, and chord spelling. 
Practical Music Theory. Music Termin- 
ology, anil Early Music Skills are design- 
ed to educate music students of all ages 
and maintain records of progress. The 
company also offers some programs in 
math and Knglish grammar. 
Systems: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

309 Windsor Rd. 

Champaign, IL 61 820 

(217)359-7099 

Epcot Educational Media 

In keeping with Epcot's science and 
technology theme, Disney's Epcot 
Educational Media has introduced three 
programs in science and business for ju- 
nior high school students and older. In- 
ternal Journey uses an interactive 
format, color graphics, animation, and 
music to teach nutrition and the process 
of food digestion and conversion in 
humans. As energy scientists in Galactic 
Prospector, students conduct geological 
and meteorological tests and evaluate 
data to find available energy sources on a 
new planet. A simulated amusement 
park in Cosmic Carnival is the setting for 
students to learn about the energy costs 
and operating expenses of managing a 
business. 
System: Apple 1 1 
Address: 

500 South Buena Vista St. 

Burbank,CA91521 

(818)840-5290 

Epyx Computer Software 

Gearing its software products to 
strategic thinking and adventure-role 
playing, this company strives for what it 
feels is the optimum balance between 
educational material and entertainment 
in its Learning Fun series for 6- to 12- 
year-olds, with typing and logic pro- 
grams for ages 6 to 60. Based upon the 
movie of the same name, Epyx's 9-5 Typ- 
ing program combines seven basic typ- 
ing skills and 49 drills with animated 
sequences from the motion picture. 
Players can increase speed by taking pot- 
shots at Hart in a shooting gallery or 
learn key locations by helping Doralee 
escape from Hart. Epyx also is releasing 
its own version of Chipwits. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, Atari, C64 
Address: 

1043 Kiel Ct. 

Sunnyvale, CA 94089 

(408)745-0700 



Fisher-Price 



The 12 and under class is a special 
prerogativeof this company that special- 
izes in tot to pre-teen educational games 
designed to make computer literacy and 
basic learning skills fun. Movie Creator is 
a new product that teaches children 6 to 
10 to create colorful, fully animated 
movies complete with a music sound- 
track and a script. SongMaker lets chil- 
dren play or modify 1 5 traditional songs 
or create their own musical com- 
positions. Auditory and visual cues, 
along with animated animals, introduce 
thechild to concepts of musical pitch. Up 
& Add 'Em helps children from 3 to 7 
learn basic counting, addition and 
subtraction. Logic Levels encourages 
logical thinking and helps children 7 to 
1 2 learn to predict the outcome of a series 
of actions. A complete catalog of educa- 
tional games is available from the com- 
pany. 

System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

P.O. Box 1327 

Cambridge, MA 02238 

(617)494-1222 



FlipTrack Learning Systems 

With a variety of training courses 
on microcomputer operations and soft- 
ware. FlipTrack teacher cassettes put a 
personal tutor into the classroom or of- 
fice. Nothing is simulated in these 
hands-on, user-paced courses that pro- 
vide about two hours of instruction per 
cassette. A clear, concise index and spe- 
cial formatting system allow the user to 
select specific topics for study or review 
without going through the entire tape. 
Cassettes are available for both pro- 
fessional and home computers, word 
processing software, including Apple 
Writer, Easy Writer 11, and WordStar; 
spreadsheets, including Multiplan. 
Supercalc, and Visicalc; and the inte- 
grated packages Framework and Lotus 
1-2-3. 

System: IBM PC, Apple II, Atari, C64, 
Vic-20, Coleco 
Address: 

999 Main, Suite 200 

Glen Ellyn.IL 60137 

(312)790-1117 

Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc. 

It should be no surprise that the 
world's largest publisher and distributor 
of encyclopedias would introduce a line 



of educational software designed not 
only to encourage reading but also to de- 
velop "essential information literacy" 
skills. The Adventures in Knowledge se- 
ries integrates books and software in Se- 
crets of Science Island which uses 
adventure to explain science facts. Using 
an authoritative reference book about 
explorers. Treasure Hunters promotes 
reading in history and geography 
through a global quest for buried trea- 
sure. A resource book offering addi- 
tional learning activities for use by 
instructors, parents, and students is in- 
cluded with each software package. Step 
One for beginners and computer novices 
is an interactive program which uses nine 
learning modules for developing skills 
ranging from writing and editing to using 
the computer as a fully functioning, 
simulated piano. 
System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

95 Madison Ave. 

New York, NY 10016 

(212)696-9750 



Hartley Courseware, Inc. 

Composed of colorful, interactive 
computer readiness games. Hartley's 
Early Discovery series for pre-schoolers 
uses sound and animation to encourage 
interest and concentration through in- 
creasing difficulty levels. Color and 
Shapes combines discrimination of the 
title elements with reinforcement of top- 
to-bottom and left-to-right eye move- 
ments that will be required in future 
reading. Patterns and Sequence begins 
with matching single objects and pro- 
gresses through abstract patterns in 
series to filling in the parts of missing 
letters. For high school students, the 
company produces Intellectual Pursuit', 
with questions from English and Ameri- 
can literature as well as mythology. De- 
ductive reasoning to promote logical 
thinking is the goal of Perplexing Puzzles, 
a program that helps the beginning fourth 
to tenth grade student, but leaves ad- 
vanced students on their own. Kittens, 
Kids, and a Frog for first and second 
graders is designed to develop inferential 
and factual comprehension. For chil- 
dren in grades three and four, the com- 
pany offers Reading/or Meaning II with 
Mother Goose. 
System: Apple II 
Address: 

133 Bridge St. 

Dimondale, MI 48821 

(517)646-6458 



68 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Educational Software 
That Works: 



SpeU It! 



Spell. 



Spell expertly 1000 of the most misspelled 
words. Learn the spelling rules, improve 
with 4 exciting activities, including a 
captivating arcade game! Add your own 
spelling words. 

ages 10 - adult / 2 disks $49.95 






Math. 



Math Blaster! 

Master addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
division, fractions, decimals and percentages 
- by solving over 600 problems. Learn your 
math facts with 4 motivating activities, 
including a fast-action arcade game! Add 
your own problems. 

ages 6-12/2 disks: $49.95 



*i 



Word 



Word Attack! 



Add 675 new words to your vocabulary - 
with precise definitions and sentences 
demonstrating usage. Build your skills with 
4 fun-filled activities, including an arcade 
game! Add your own words. 

ages 8 - adult / 2 disks $49.95 




Bead. 



Speed Reader U 

increase your reading speed and improve 
comprehension! Six exercises designed by 
reading specialists vastly improve your 
reading skills. Chart your own progress with 
35 reading selections and comprehension 
quizzes. Add your own reading materials. 

high school, college & adult / 2 disks $69.95 



I 



The Davidson 

Best Seller Tradition. 

For your Apple, IBM or commodore 64. 
Ask your dealer today 




Davidson. 



For more information call: 
in California call: 



(800) 556-6141 
(213) 373-9473 



Davidson & Associates 
6069 Groveoak Place «12 
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90274 

CIRCLE 123 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



NE A 



Apple. IBM and Commodore 64 are trademarks respectively of Apple Computers. Inc.. International Business Machines Corp.. and Commodore Business Machines. Inc. 






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HUMAN EDGE. SaaaaMgm Edg. m 
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I 195 125 

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S 39 25 

1150 66 

I 499 376 

S 395 : 265 

S 50 f 32 

I49S {360 

I 296 166 

I 35 : 16 

S 50 33 

S 125 76 

I 195 125 

I 195 125 

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I 50 32 

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BUSINESS SOFTWARE 



LIST 

PRICE PRICE 

I to 6 36 

S 130 60 

S *< 249 

I 295 166 

1179 116 

I 150 100 

I49S 266 

! 595 375 

5 ..' 240 

I SO : 26 

I 25 16 

I 70 45 

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1 250 166 

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s 300 i , ic: 

S (50 219 

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1125 6 76 

1125 I 76 

I 125 5 76 

1125 f 76 

! 150 t 225 

1129 6 62 



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LIST 

BEAGLE. GPLL a Aim PW a0l S 35 

Maa in STOCK 

SORIANO, latonaca S 55 

CENTRAL POINT Copy II fir I brtcorjal S 40 

F* Ul*1y » Apple DOS S 20 

EINSTEIN /AUSON. Compa. S 129 

tySON. (raphrsOurai I is 

FUNK, Srtkaays S 60 

HAYES Tanas! Prog la SVtanrotam I 100 
MICROSOFT. FuUn* Stack 

OMEGA, Lodaaai | 100 

PENGUIN. Compate GnptKS Sy«m II I SO 

Gfipnts Maocao S to 

PHOENIX Zoom Graf.. I 40 

OUAUTY Sagol Ticks l 40 

"TED6WL ASCII Fjcna Tia Pro S 130 

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3 27 

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S 35 

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15 

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65 

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I 76 

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40 
34 
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I 25 

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34 

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t 66 

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17 
59 
27 
50 
45 
33 



RECREATIONAL 
SOFTWARE 



DATASOFT. Ana a Zaoan. aatn 
ELECTRONIC ARTS Sky Fo. 

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ANCHOR. Sonakom Mark XII (IBM) 

HAVES, 2400Br>arrr«Moaari|IPAII 



HAVES 2400BEjraM»Jotkjmria 
1200BIKMI 
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H200IMAC) 1549 

XIIBMI 1595 

CsaatorJam EaSaral (IBM) I IBS 

VENTEL.PCH»lCan!ilBMl 1 649 

1200 Pka Fjrwral (IBMI 1499 

FC12o1,lraaraa(alM) S4S8 



269 
666 

406 

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216 
466 
236 
366 
104 
366 
246 
666 
376 
266 
426 
426 
466 
366 
426 
376 



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LIST CSI 

AMDEK. Color 300 Comp.Aorko (349 6 246 

CoW500Corrr/VCR'l«G6<Aul»o I 525 366 

Color 600 HiRas, RG8 'Aaao S 599 466 

Cok. 700 LmraHrRa RGB $749 546 

Color 710 S 799 666 

300Gi2-l>aai |I79 126 

300G 12-Ajlta 1199 146 

3I0A I2~ Amt* (IBM) I 730 156 

PRINCETON. HX 12 H. Ra RGB I 795 466 

SR 12 r» Pas RGB S 7*1 666 

Scar. OouMa to SR-12 S 249 176 

■ Imoroclkomal J 249 166 

ata ll a i aa ir Arrroa S 250 1 

(>arWirorra12 RGBCotor 1 696 466 

14 AGS Color 1650 6 450 

0ua«Cfaaii7 9«i512>'caba tk Ras 11995 61666 

ZENITH 2VM122 12 Amor, S 159 65 

ZVM123 XT Gaai I 149 S9 

2VMI24 12 Arltar | 200 146 

2VM135 irCotor 1699 466 



PRINTERS 



DOT MATRIX: 

UST 
PACE 

EPSOM RXJJO-IOOcps 1269 

RXtO-F.T | 369 

RXIOO-IOOcps 136 col patk | 499 

FXJ0-I60CPS tOcol |6» 

EX100— 160 CDS 136 OM 1149 

JXBO-Color Prrtar 160 cps | 399 

L01500— 200 467 qa H39S 

Tractor FaM tor 101500 I 70 

MANNESMANN TALLY. 

Spra-tocol tOcps 1269 

160-60 col 160 cps | 791 

H0-I32C0I 160 COS 11099 

OKIOATA Okmaa 20 Cotor H. Ras S 2SS 

62A -60 col 120 cps para 1349 

63A-132C0I 120CPS para 1749 

64-136COI 200CPS para 1699 

92-BOcol 160 cps para lass 

93— 1 36 to 160 cos para 1799 

2410P-Pacarr*rk 3S0cps pal S29S5 

OUADRAM. Ouakn k*|« Cotor Pnraa | S95 

STAR MPC. Gam I20cps 10 I 499 

Sanaa 120CDS 15" S 541 

TO S T MSA. Plop spaong 4 Hrras p/apracs 

13SI-192ops|0Olt100CDI(l0l I1IBS 

1340-144 cralOOIt 54 cpaLOl 1905 

ft aa a l kj ira Tractor FaarJ sits 

TTX nxpraas pataba/lsarrdtak)40cpB S 229 



CALL 

216 
666 

776 
206 
316 
666 
726 
366 
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766 
266 

416 

6T375 
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LETTER QUALITY: 



JUKI. 6300-40 cps pan " SM6 

6100— II cps, para. 3 pNt* S 599 
TOM MBA, Prop spacing A hvas grapho 

1»1-192cMD0>t100cfa|LO> 11195 

1340-144CPNOOIIS4CPMLOI IMS 

TTX 1014-13COS paa/sa pAa 3p 1499 

1114— saiaal0l4t»/TIF.2£trjo9 I SB 

PLOTTERS: 

AMOEX Amptotll 6pan 10.14 11099 S 999 

PRINTER SUPPLIES: 

Pap- Fabbona. Oaaty VAsaala CALL 



6766 
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& BUFFERS 



ARSO.IBMPCIoPaiPrsaaCaBfe 
• 1019*1 



ASMM PROC Mac to Fpaor. Con, l/f 
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LIST 

I 60 6 30 

S too : . 76 

I 130 106 

I 19 66 
56 

I 50 : I 42 

I 149 : 

S 119 : I 76 

1239 ! 166 

(349 259 

1349 6256 
CALL 



CABLES 



ARt)O.IBMPCtoMora»riCata> I 31 6 21 

ISM-PC to Para Pnraa Car* I 60 S 30 

ASTAR.RFM«luarortoTV(Appa) S 35 5 20 

CURTIS MonlaEaranaonCabst (IBMI I 50 S 35 

T 9 Kayooarj EkMrs CaUtllBM) I 40 6 30 

RCA. Monnor Cat* S 15 6 6 



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COC Lrrited M day aataiN.M la ojardrty races 

Full Height $149 

Halt Height. $129 

MAYNARO. tan* Cam wpara pot $ 300 $ 115 

Cannot* Cart arsenal port $310 S 195 

SaMMar Com Card (accepts 3 itadUes) S 265 J 205 

PERFECT DATA, ttaad Otaae) 101 I 16 3 12 



OTHER HARDWARE 



An 

SaPakPlus 64K 

SetPakPlus 2SSK S>PrCC«S7W 

SaPakPlus 364K S<PnCC-S.'«V 

Game Port tor SraPak 

Reva*- Grjpvs CM .p*i 64K 

•Oanaga" Hum DdkeAT 

lOPusll s/PrCC 

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10 PUs II 2S/RCGIG 

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PCM Slat* Kit PC002 

PCN* Cm BoM PC001 

CntjoPU Products IN STOCK 

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COMK aw 

Ixono RAM Pus- 364K tot Smog 
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Mr Sotlwate Pad 

9067 Maoo Pa 
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HERCULES Cow Cart . para 

Mono &aphcs CM 
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KENSteeGTOM. llailln.r 

PC Saw 1 * Lea Cord W/F*a 
KEY TKOWC KB5I51 SM Ireyturd 

sEimsii :.t.i MiM 
KOALA. Speed Key Sysam 

Spaed Kay TaHaa ar/aoANan 

Koala Pad- ./PCOaraon 

noywtw's Gutfe 
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HaM>xton|6ICM 

Memory CM nn RAM 

Memory CM 2Sfjic 

Floppy Com CM actapn 3 mooute 

ElardM l/F laodue 



Sena Port Mod* 
ParaoCBovd Module ea 
Game adapt* Mod* 
Uamory Moduk OK 
Memory Module 256* 
10 meg Had ft* kji & Com CM 



LISI W 

PRICE Pan 

$245 

5 • • $ 395 
S »* $ 465 

S 39 

S399 $299 

i S* .445 
» MS 150 

« 2« i:r 

S 315 : . 215 
St,- 375 
Stow 790 
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$395 

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MICROSOFT. Mouse UPC 

SysaaaCM 64K 

System CM 256K 

MOUSE SYSTEMS Pi; Mouse t Pant 

MRADISE. ModuUrGrjpticsCM 
ParaM or Sanal Port aa 

PERSYST. m 
PC/Mono BoM wrpaa port 
PCrCoky (raphes Bd w right pan A l/F 
EXW Board'- Con Arapk. hires 

PIJINTROMFCS. 
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EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW 






Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc 

Believing that computer literacy 
also requires the ability to read and com- 
prehend printed media, this company 
takes the approach that an educational 
package consists of a full-length book 
supplemented with a disk or tape cas- 
sette containing program material the 
reader would otherwise need to enter by- 
hand. Among the offerings is the Trivia 
Data Base series which uses the popular 
trivia motif as the method of teaching 
database program structure. This 
"Combo Pack" contains two separate 
programs, the first a database manage- 
ment system, and the second a game for 
one to four players which accesses that 
data and scores points for prompt and 
correct responses. Ages child to adult 
can learn structured programming and 
Logo syntax with 88 Apple Logo Pro- 
grams which contains ready-to-run 
database and graphing packages for 
home, business, and school. Other 
programs are designed forages 10 to 14. 
System: Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

4300 W. 62nd St. 

Indianapolis, IN 46206 

(317)298-5566 

(800)428-SAMS 


logic skills, Big Blue is offering special 
school prices to introduce its products to 
teachers and ot her fulltime faculty mem- 
bers. Its Writing to Read system is a com- 
plete language laboratory for teaching 
kindergarten and first grade children to 
read and write. Prior to the introduction 
of the program, more than 22,000 chil- 
dren participated in a full scale testing 
and evaluation of the system. IBM also 
produces an Electric Literature series 
that includes the Electric Poet, a pro- 
gram of animation and musical lessons 
created for language arts, social studies, 
science, and math. In conjunction with 
the Poet, Comma Cat uses poetry, color, 
animation, and music to teach the 
appearance and use of punctuation 
marks. Dictionary Dog teaches children 
how to alphabetize words and to use the 
dictionary. 

System: IBM PC, PCjr. 
Address: 

P.O. Box 1328 

Boca Raton, FL 33432 

(305)982-3474 


and game format to teach roots, prelixes, 
foreign words, and 9000 essential 
vocabulary words. Krell also produces 
preparation packages for the SAT, ACT, 
GMAT, LSAT, and NTE, with SAT 
and ACT programs offering a money- 
back guarantee of an 80-point SAT score 
increase and a 10% ACT score increase. 
For young learners, Kinderlogo in- 
troduces Logo programming language 
for teaching computer literacy. 

System: IBM PC, Apple, C64, Atari, 

TRS-80 

Address: 

1 320 Stony Brook Rd. 
Stony Brook, NY 11790 
(516)751-5139 
(800)245-7355 


The Learning Company 

Designing programs in series so stu- 
dents progress from one to the next, TLC 
produces a wide range of educational 
software in logic and thinking skills, 
reading, math, and art and creativity. An 
electronic erector set that builds logic 
machines and simulated computer cir- 
cuits, Rocky's Boots for ages 9 and up is 
an introductory logic course in which 
the player becomes a builder and in- 
ventor, tinkering and experimenting in 
an interactive environment. Teenagers 
and young adults can build a robot, de- 
sign integrated circuitry and microchips 
and learn the applications of Boolean 
logic in Robot Odyssey I, an adventure 
game that combines action and educa- 
tion. Players develop problem-solving 
skills, including analysis of information, 
hypothesis formulation, and logical 
thinking. Other TLC software includes 
reading programs for ages 3 to 10, math 
forages 4 to 1 3, and art and creativity for 
ages 3 to 6. 

System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

545 Middlefield R., Suite 1 70 

Menlo Park, CA 94025 

(415)328-5410 


Imagic 

An enterprising crook could chat 
with his computer, repair his car on the 
way to a heist and preside at his own trial 
with this company's line of software. 
Speak and Seek is a vocabulary building 
program for children 2 to 7 years old that 
uses speech synthesis programming in- 
stead of specialized hardware to create 
talkative, animated letters. Injured En- 
gine takes older children and their 
computers under the hood of a car to 
learn about operation and maintenance. 
Crime and Punishment draws on actual 
case histories to present criminal trials, 
examine evidence and testimony, an- 
alyze defendants' records of arrests and 
convictions, and determine sentences. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

981 University Ave. 

Los Gatos,CA 95030 

(408)399-2200 


Human Engineered Software 

HES's human engineers are 
promoting the spread of disease among 
microcomputers, but the epidemic can 
be brought under control by 10-year- 
olds using Cell Defense, a biology pro- 
gram that simulates the effects of virus, 
age, stress, drugs, and alcohol on in- 
dividual cells. Users control the body's 
defense system to ward off infections and 
tissue damage by choosing from a variety 
of defenses including interferon, macro- 
phages and antibodies. Another inter- 
active, simulation program. Ocean 
Quest, challenges players to roam the 
seven seas in a research submarine, 
collecting data on marine life while 
searching for shipwrecks, sunken trea- 
sure, and lost torpedos. 
System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

150 North Hill Dr. 

Brisbane, CA 94005 

(415)468-4111 


Krell Software Corporation 

For career-oriented adults who 
need to review grammar and English us- 
age, and students who are preparing for 
junior high, high school, and college en- 
trance exams, Krell offers Grammar, 
What Big Teeth You Have, a diagnostic 
and instructional program that covers 
grammar, style, punctuation, and spell- 
ing. A complementary package, The 
Devil and Mr. Webster, uses a tutoring 


MECA 

An interactive, self-paced tutorial 
designed to introduce novices 1 2 to adult 
to Basic programming, Basic Building 
Blocks demonstrates Basic commands, 
including disk access, sound, and graph- 
ics. More than 60 programs are executed 
for study to teach program structure and 
flow of control. In addition, users can 
write and test their own programs, trac- 
ing the flow one line at a time to detect er- 


IBM 

With programs developed specifi- 
cally for the IBM PCjr ranging from an 
earth science series to games that build 



72 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



rors. Values for up to 16 variables can be 
displayed and breakpoints set by line 
number or variable number. 
System: Apple, Atari, IBM PC 
Address: 

285 Riverside Dr. 

Westport.CT 06880 

(203)222-1000 

Methods & Solutions, Inc. 

Based on the theory that children 
view school as a job and reject tutorial 
educational programs for use at home as 
being part of the workday even when 
presented on a computer, the Mindplay 
series incorporates learning into a vari- 
ety of information-laden games to at- 
tract and maintain interest and 
enthusiasm. The software also is adjust- 
able by teacher or parent according to 
the motor skills and educational 
progress of the individual child. Race the 
Clock, for ages 5 to 12, is designed to 
sharpen memory and thinking skills as 
the user races against time to match pic- 
tures, words, and word-picture 
combinations. Children aged 4 to 9 can 
knock down walls and slay an assort- 
ment of monsters in the addition and 
subtraction game. Math Magic, which 
includes performance summaries and 
customizing features. Story and coloring 
books can be created by children ages 4 
and up with Picture Perfect. For children 
7 to 1 1 who would like to eat their words, 
the diet can be made palatable with Bake 
& Taste, a program that teaches how to 
measure and follow directions. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II 
Address: 

82 Montvale Ave. 

Stoneham,MA02180 

(617)438-5454 

Micro Lab 

The Micro Learn Tutorial Series 
uses two basic modes in its educational 
programs, a tutorial mode in which an- 
swers to questions are explained im- 
mediately after a choice is made, and a 
test mode in which questions are an- 
swered without help and then scored on 
the basis of the percentage of correct an- 
swers. Missed questions are regiven after 
scoring. American History, ages 7 to 
adult, covers 1865-1912 with topics 
including reconstruction, industrial 
growth, urban growth, and foreign pol- 
icy. Seventh through twelfth graders ex- 
plore exponents, scientific notation, and 
problem solving in More Power to You. 
Stories of monsters, superstitions, and 



magical happenings develop com- 
prehensive reading skills in Myths, 
Magic and Monsters for grades 5 to 8. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

2699 Skokie Valley Rd. 

Highland Park, IL 60035 

(312)433-7550 

Mindscape, Inc. 

A new series for young children and 
a real-time space program are the newest 
entries in this company's line of educa- 
tional and entertaining games. The Hal- 
ley Project: A Mission in Our Solar 
System is a solar system simulation that 
takes teen to adult players through a se- 
ries of tests and obstacles while impart- 
ing information on gravity, orbital 
motions, and sizes and positions of plan- 
ets, comets and moons; location of 
constellations; and how eclipses occur. 
Children 4 to 8 years old help Tonk 
search for robot parts in Buddy-Bot land 
in Tonk in the Land of Buddy- Bots, one 
of five educational games in the 
TinklTonk! series designed to develop 
concentration, visual discrimination, 
and critical thinking skills over a range 
of five difficulty levels. 
Systems: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

3444 Dundee Rd. 

Northbrook,IL60062 

(312)480-7667 

Minnesota Educational Computing 
Corporation 

With more than 300 software pro- 
grams listed in its 94-page catalog, 
MECC is one of the industry leaders in 
developing a wide variety of educational 
materials for home and school use. A 
new science package. Discovery Lab in- 
troduces students to science processes by 
predicting, observing, and collecting 
information. For grades five to nine, two 
interactive tutorials, Diagonals and 
Squares in the Problem-Solving Strat- 
egies series, detail the strategies of trial 
and error, exhaustive listing, and 
simplification of the posed problem. Stu- 
dents collect data, create charts, find 
patterns, and make generalizations as 
the strategies are applied to graphically 
presented puzzle problems. Young 
Commodore 64 tyros can learn the ins 
and outs of the system with The Friendly 
Computer and the Term Worm, a pro- 
gram that graphically displays the major 
components of the computer innards. 
Many MECC software packages are also 



available directly from Radio Shack. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, TRS- 
80, Atari 
Address: 

3490 Lexington Ave. N. 

St. Paul, MN 551 12 

(612)481-3500 



Muse Software 



Muse is a company that actually 
says it wants to turn children into ad- 
dicts—education addicts who enjoy the 
experience of learning. Taking its lead 
from the news headlines, the company 
puts young players into the middle of a 
nuclear power plant with Three Mile 
Island, where the general manager must 
supply electricity to customers while 
preventing radiation leaks, interruption 
of service, and most important, a melt- 
down. More cerebral is Intellectual 
Decathalon. an Olympic brain-against- 
the-clock race designed to stimulate 
powers of observation, memorization 
and competition for ages 6 to adult. 
Mathematical functions over a wide 
range of variables in alegbra and calculus 
are presented in The Functional Game 
which explores the association between 
graphs of functions and their mathemat- 
ical equations for high school and college 
level students. Losers here can always 
refresh their knowledge of Elementary 
Math in a program of basic arithmetic 
for 6- to 13-year olds designed to supple- 
ment homework assignments. 
System: Apple II 
Address: 

347 Charles St. 

Baltimore, MD 2 1201 

(301)659-7212 

Olympus Educational Software 

Featuring color and graphics 
capabilities. Infinite Math Workbook 
Series offers 14 programs covering three 
years of high school math curriculum, 
including functions and graphing, 
geometry, linear equations, and statis- 
tics. Each program provides instruction, 
review, examples, and scoring. After a 
user's third unsuccessful attempt to 
solve a problem, the program provides 
both the solution and detailed explana- 
tions of the mathematical process. 
Highly tutorial, these programs may be 
used in classrooms as supplements to the 
on-going curriculum or as reviews in in- 
dependent study. Accompanying book- 
lets act as mini-textbooks, each 
providing a discussion of a specific area 
of mathematics. 



VOLUME 11 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 73 



EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW 



System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

1 660 North Hotel Circle Dr. 

Suite 310 

San Diego, CA 92 108 

(619)296-8475 



Prentice-Holl 

Developed by Arrakis Advantage 
for Prentice-Hall, Algebra I, Geometry, 
and Chemistry are the first in a series of 
interactive math and science programs 
that eventually will include volumes of 
biology, physics, and statistics. Students 
are allowed to interrupt to ask questions, 
request examples, or review material and 
can use two different testing techniques 
to prepare for classroom exams. Each 
program covers a specific set of key top- 
ics: sets and their notation, types, opera- 
tions, and relationships in Algebra I, 
Volume 1 ; applications, measure, basics 
of geometry, relations, and transforma- 
tions in Geometry, Volume 1 ; and atomic 
models, Dalton's atomic theory, and 
electron configurations in Chemistry, 
Volume 1. Animated color graphics, 
simulations, and sound are designed to 
create interest and enthusiasm in high 
school students. 

System: IBM PC, PCjr, Apple He, 

Atari, C64 

Address: 

Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 

(800)624-0024 



Quality Educational Designs (QED) 



Self-paced tutoring and game- 
explorations are combined in four inter- 
active programs that introduce, instruct, 
reinforce, and then extend basic 
mathematical concepts for students in 
grades two through nine. Beginning with 
trial and error, Arith-Magic II uses con- 
crete examples in length, area, and vol- 
ume to develop abstract concepts. Four 
levels of difficulty challenge individual 
ability. Factoring Whole Numbers is an 
interactive tutorial and activity package 
requiring students to give problems to 
the computer which then requires stu- 
dents to solve those problems. Fractions 
and Decimals arc progressive programs 
requiring constant interaction with de- 
cision making, questions and answers, 
and concept demonstration. 
Systems: Apple, TRS-80, C64, Pet 
Address: 

P.O. Box 12486 

Portland, OR 972 12 

(503)287-8137 



Rand McNally Educational 
Publishing 

For a company that made its name 
in cartography, it seems natural to chart 
a geographic course in educational soft- 
ware with four programs that explore 
the land and its relationship to society, 
history, and the elements. Choice or 
Chance? helps intermediate students 
understand the cause and effect of 
historical happenings as they relate to 




geography with interactive lessons in 
exploration, colonization, expansion, 
and industrialization. Time and Seasons 
for grades seven to nine, demonstrates 
how time is measured and regulated, sea- 
sonal differences between hemispheres, 
and longitude and time lines. Unlocking 
the Map Code deciphers topograhic sym- 
bols, scales and color theory. Basic con- 
cepts, terminology, and the use of 
barometers, thermometers, and hydro- 
meters are taught in Weather or Not, a 
meteorological study of world climatic 
conditions. 
System: Apple II 
Address: 

8255 N. Central Park Ave. 

Skokie, IL 60076 

(312)673-9100 

Random House 

Vivid color graphics and lifelike 
animation put the Peanuts characters to 
work in a series of family-based educa- 
tional programs developed by one of the 
leading publishers of children's books. 
Special activities and color cards are de- 
signed to allow children ages 3 to 7 to 
share the learning experience with their 



parents in Charlie Brown 's ABC's, which 
uses humorous situations to introduce 
the alphabet. The letters become build- 
ing blocks in word families generated by 
Snoopy's Reading Machine, a program 
that rewards correct answers with an ac- 
tion sequence and advancement to the 
next skill level. Logic and coordination 
skills are developed as children ages 4 to 
8 help the Peanuts gang find the way out 
of the Maze Marathon. This program 
draws new mazes each time with the 
puzzles gradually growing more difficult. 
The flying ace is back in Snoopy's Sky- 
writer Scrambler, an action game for 
ages 8 to adult that tests wits and skill 
with word puzzles. When Woodstock is 
birdnapped, Snoopy the super sleuth 
involves children ages 8 and up in a 
mathematical game, Snoopy to the Res- 
cue, that uses addition to accomplish the 
rescue. 

System: Apple II, IBM PCjr, C64 
Address: 

201 East 50th St. 

New York, NY 10022 

(212)872-8035 

Scarborough Systems, Inc. 

Blending educational elements with 
practical home applications and 
entertainment, The Scarborough Sys- 
tem manufactures a range of instruc- 
tional software for students and their 
families. Teens and adults are con- 
fronted by the economics and man- 
agerial challenges of building a 
successful manufacturing enterprise in 
Tom Snyder's Make Millions, which 
casts the user as a chief executive officer 
faced with problems of inventory con- 
trol, research, productivity, pricing, 
competition, and advertising. Children 
ages 2 to 1 2 become the central character 
in the interactive Build a Book program 
that weaves friends, family, and pets into 
a personalized story that can be printed 
out and bound into a durable, pro- 
fessional quality, four-color book. Other 
programs include Songwriter, which 
comes with connector cables to couple 
the computer with a home stereo and re- 
produce the musical compositions of 
child or adult, and MasterType's Figures 
+ Formulas, a weights and measures 
conversion program so complete it will 
convert hogsheads to liters and the speed 
of light to furlongs per fortnight. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

25 N. Broadway 

Tarry town, NY 10591 

(800)882-8222 



74 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Good Reasons lb Buy 
Sams Two New Commodore Books. 




Nobody covers Commodore' like Sams. 
That's because nobody knows technical 
publishing like Sams. We've been the 
leading technical publisher since 1946. 

We're responsible for bringing 
you the best-selling COMMODORE 64 
PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE GUIDE. 
The first and only comprehensive guide 
to using the Commodore 64. And that's 
just the beginning. 

We have Commodore books that 
teach you how to program in BASIC, use 
graphics and sounds, set up a trivia data 
base, and repair and troubleshoot. Ten 
books in all. 

So it only stands to reason that you can 
turn to Sams for the books you need on 
Commodore's two new computers— the 
Commodore 16 and Plus/4. 

Our just-released COMMODORE 16 
USER'S MANUAL is for intermediate 
users who want to go beyond the 
basics with their Commodore 16. THE 



COMMODORE PLUS/4 BOOK is a 
beginner's guide to mastering the 
Plus/4 integrated spreadsheet, word 
processing, graphics and file 
management programs. 

And like all our Commodore books, 
our new Commodore 16 and Plus/4 
books make learning fast and easy! 

If you own a Commodore, now you 
have a dozen good reasons to buy Sams 
books: COMMODORE 16 USER'S 
MANUAL, No. 22437, $12.95, THE 
COMMODORE PLUS/4 BOOK, No. 
22389, $16.95, and our ten popular 
Commodore 64 books: 

• COMMODORE 64 STARTER BOOK, 
No. 22293, $17.95 

• LEARN BASIC PROGRAMMING IN 
14 DAYS ON YOUR COMMODORE 64, 
No. 22279, $12.95 



SAMS 



• COMMODORE 64 
TROUBLESHOOTING AND REPAIR 
GUIDE, No. 22363, $18.95 

• COMMODORE 64 PROGRAMMER'S 
REFERENCE GUIDE, No. 22056, $19.95 

• TOOL KIT SERIES: COMMODORE 64 
EDITION, No. 22314, $9.95 

• COMMODORE 64 TRIVIA DATA BASE, 
No. 22396, $8.95 

• COMMODORE 64 GRAPHICS AND 
SOUNDS, No. 22278, $8.95 

• COMMODORE 64 BASIC PROGRAMS 
(2nd Edition), No. 22402, $9.95 

• MOSTLY BASIC: APPLICATIONS 
FOR YOUR COMMODORE 64, Book 1, 
No. 22355, $12.95 

• MOSTLY BASIC: APPLICATIONS 
FOR YOUR COMMODORE 64, Book 2, 
No. 22356, $14.95 

Look for Sams Commodore books 
at your local bookstore or computer 
dealer. Or call Operator 102 at 
3 1 7-298-5566 or 800-428-S AMS. 



HOWARD W. SAMS & CO., INC 

A Publishing Subsidiary of ITT 

4300 West 62nd Street, P.O. Box 7092, Indianapolis, IN 46206 

Offer good in USA only. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. In Canada, contact Copp Clark Pitmon Ltd., 

495 Wellington Street West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1 E9. 
Commodore is o registered trademork of Commodore Business Machines, Inc. 
CIRCLE 126 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE: AN OVERVIEW 






Scholastic, Inc. 

Using a combination of interactive 
techniques and simulated life experi- 
ences, the Scholastic Software series pro- 
vides graphic and challenging learning 
opportunities in science, math, language 
arts, and computer literacy. Users can 
perform a simulated dissection of a frog, 
complete with scissors and other tools 
for cutting out the proper organs, ani- 
mated sequences of organ functions such 
as the beating of the heart, and dis- 
cussions of biology and anatomy, in Op- 
eration: Frog. Children ages 8 and up can 
write and illustrate their own stories 
with Story Maker: A Fact A Fiction Tool 
Kit that combines reading readiness and 
comprehension with the fundamentals 
of computer graphics, or uncover parts 
of Mystery Sentences, in a home and 
classroom program that sharpens verbal 
and analytical skills. 
System: Apple II 
Address: 

730 Broadway 

New York, NY 10003 

(212)505-3000 


educational software program that al- 
lows students to mix, heat, and combine 
chemicals on the screen. Putting young 
chemists, ages 9 to 13, in charge of a 
computerized chemical laboratory, 
Chem Lab comes equipped with two ro- 
bot arms for handling chemicals and 
equipment, three Bunsen burners and 
separate dispensers for gases, liquids, 
and solids. If the computer survives all 
this, younger children, ages 4 and up. can 
wreak havoc with The Great Gonzo in 
Wordrider and Hermit's Electronic 
Storymaker. These Muppet Institute of 
Technology programs are designed to 
develop reading, writing, grammar, and 
vocabulary skills. The company also 
produces Typing Tutor III and Lovejoy's 
Preparation/or the SA T. 
System: IBM PC, Apple, C64 
Address: 

1 230 Avenue of the Americas 

New York, NY 10020 

(212)398-0820 


recognition; shape, color and size identi- 
fication; routing and planning; part- 
whole relationships; and problem 
solving. Pre-teens and teens can share 
Rock 'N' Rhythm with their parents to 
develop a sense of rhythm, tempo, and 
melody while composing, recording, 
and playing original music- 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

215 First St. 

Cambridge, MA 02 142 

(617)868-4700 


Springboard 

Users can design, produce, and 
print out their own newspaper complete 
with banners, borders, headlines, and art 
with The Newsroom, a software program 
designed to stimulate creativity in 
journalists of all ages. With a modem, 
text and pictures can be transmitted be- 
tween previously incompatible comput- 
ers, including the I BM PC, Apple II, and 
Commodore 64. Suggested applications 
range from school and club newsletters 
to church bulletins and business 
announcements. Mask Parade is a cre- 
ative design program that allows chil- 
dren ages 4 to 12 to design and then print 
out, color, and wear masks, hats, jewelry 
and badges. Enhancement of fine motor 
skills is the object of Rainbow Painter for 
ages 4 to 10, a program which teaches 
color coordination and creative draw- 
ing. 

Systems: I BM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

7807 Creekridge Circle 

Minneapolis, MN 55435 

(612)944-3912 


SofTech Microsystems 

SofTech has developed a number of 
products to meet classroom instruction 
requirements for UCSD Pascal and For- 
tran-77. The UCSD Pascal Learning 
Environment includes a completely inte- 
grated, student-friendly operating sys- 
tem, an editor that doubles as a 
sophisticated text processor, and screen 
formatting routines, graphics, sound 
and color capabilities. The compiler al- 
lows students to create programs of up to 
2000 line of code using up to six units. 
The UCSD Pascal Development En viron- 
ment provides instruction for beginning 
classes through advanced operating sys- 
tem architecture courses. 
System: IBM PC, Apple, DEC Rain- 
bow, Sperry, Mitsubishi 
Address: 

16875 W.Bernardo Dr. 

San Diego, CA 92 127 

(619)451-1230 


Sierra On-Line, Inc. 

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and 
Winnie-the-Pooh have been enlisted in 
Sierra's "child-friendly" software de- 
signed to provide a learning environ- 
ment rich in entertaining and 
educational experiences. Designed for 
children ages 7 and up, Winnie-the-Pooh 
in the Hundred-Acre Wood develops 
mapping and reading skills as the child 
has to map a path through the woods to 
find several groups of lost objects. Don- 
ald Duck's Playground, for ages 7 to 1 1, 
promotes money-handling skills along 
with shape, color, and letter pattern 
recognition. America's favorite rodent 
takes the 8-year-old player in a journey 
through the solar system in Mickey's 
Space Adventure, developing problem- 
solving skills, logical thinking and map- 
ping ability as the child pilots the 
spaceship among the planets in a search 
for fragments of a lost memory crystal. 
System: IBM PC, PCjr, Apple II. C64 
Address: 

Sierra On-Line Building 

Coarsegold,CA93614 

(209)683-6858 


Sterling Swift Publishing Company 

Math Worlds: Exploring 
Mathematics with Computers is a 14- 
week, classroom-based curriculum for 
grades six to nine using what the authors 
term a capture-student, student-learn 
approach. This begins with the use of a 
symbolic language, Easy Speak, which 
prepares students to use algebra to ex- 
press numerical ideas and provides 
motivation to create input/output func- 
tions based upon the control the lan- 
guage gives the user over the computer. 
Students learn to use algebra as a tool in a 
world where things happen only if they 
can express themselves using an algebra- 
like language to tell the computer what 
to do. In addition, complex formulas are 
related to day-to-day activities and con- 
cepts of imagination or adventure. 


Spinnaker Software 

Fast-paced adventure games are the 
framework this company uses in its 
educational software offerings for ages 3 
to adult. Math Busters, which con- 
centrates on the four basic arithmetic 
processes, and Counting Parade, which 
uses a colorful parade of animals to iden- 
tify numerals and number values, are 
new products in the Early Learning and 
Learning Discovery series. Early Learn- 
ing Skills, for the 3 to 6 age range, is more 
ambitious with problems in pattern 


Simon & Schuster 


Not content with being a power in 
book publishing, or maybe because of 
that, Simon & Schuster has developed an 



76 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Pet 
Address: 

7901 South 1-35 

Austin, TX 78744 

(512)282-6840 

Sunburst Communications, Inc. 

Buckling up for safety is not the 
only object of Make It Click: Seatbelt 
Safety, a preventive health and safety 
program addition to Sunburst's exten- 
sive line of software designed for use in 
school systems. The purpose of the pro- 
gram is to demonstrate to students the 
importance of careful decision making in 
life-threatening situations. Beginning 
with background information and statis- 
tics, players are confronted with a series 
of incremental choices leading to a final 
decision as to whether or not to wear 
seatbel ts. The Factory is a problem solv- 
ing program that uses color graphics and 
animation to develop inductive thinking 
in students grade four and up, integrat- 
ing skills in visual discrimination, spatial 
perception, understanding sequence, 
logic, and efficiency. 
System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64, Atari 
Address: 

39 Washington Ave. 

Pleasant, NY 10570 

(914)769-5030 

(800)431-6616 

Tondy 

The student is an explorer on a jour- 
ney of learning according to Tandy's 
philosophy. Educational programs in- 
clude both fully developed software and 
authoring systems which allow teachers 
and curriculum designers to develop 
microcomputer-based lessons in any 
subject area. The Author I system is a 
screen-oriented process which provides 
for both text and graphic entries in ex- 
actly the format that the instructor 
wants for the particular course or ma- 
terial. No programming experience is re- 
quired to use the menu-driven format, 
and there is a choice between non-inter- 
active and interactive frames. For young 
students, two classroom packages have 
been developed by the Children's Tele- 
vision Workshop. Hands On is an in- 
troductory computer literacy course 
with two learning modules. Blackboard 
and Color It. Three language arts mod- 
ules develop progressive linguistic abil- 
ities in Play with Language, a learning 
manager program that allows teachers 
to customize lessons, assign students to 
different levels of play, and to save a stu- 



dent's work on disk. Super Logo contin- 
ues the student as explorer theme with 
multiple turtles, animation, and line- 
editing capabilities. Solar Exploration 
offers a scenic cruise through the solar 
system, providing data on the planets, 
moons, and interstellar discoveries. In 
addition, many MECC software products 
are marketed by Tandy. 
System: TRS-80, Models I and III, and 
Color Computer 
Address: 

1 400 One Tandy Center 
Fort Worth, TX 76102-2805 
(817)390-3832 




Telarium Corp. 



Popular science fiction novels have 
been adapted into this series of inter- 
active educational games that features 
state-of-the-art graphics, original music, 
mouse compatibility, and full-text 
menus. Incorporating an advanced text 
parser system, the games understand a 
vocabulary of several hundred common 
English words, and come with both a 
hint book and a word list. In Michael 
Crichton's Amazon, players become 
agents for a high-tech research firm in a 
search for lost emeralds in the Amazon. 
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 thrusts 
the player into a society whose govern- 
ment controls the populace by destroy- 
ing all literature. 



System: IBM PC, Apple II and Mac- 
intosh, C64 
Address: 

One Kendall Sq. 

Cambridge, MA 02 1 39 

(617)494-1200 

Weekly Reader Family Software 

Family fun and education is the goal 
of this Xerox Education Publications di- 
vision that is bearing the burden of 
educational software for children 3 to 6 
years old with its Stickybear series. First 
appearing in Stickybear Numbers and 
Stickybear ABC software, the colorful, 
animated character was created by chil- 
dren's book author Richard Hefter and 
was designed to develop pre-school 
learning skills. The series was expanded 
with Shapes and Opposites which pro- 
mote pattern recognition, reasoning 
skills, and understanding of basic con- 
cepts. For early grade school children, 
the bear introduces Reading, a word and 
sentence comprehension program with 
vocabulary building and instruction on 
subjects, objects, and verbs, and Math, a 
basic math teacher with 20 levels of diffi- 
culty that can be used simultaneously 
with as many as 25 children. 
System: Apple II, C64 
Address: 

245 Long Hill Rd. 

Middletown.CT 06457 

(203)347-7251 

Windham Classics 

Players take the role of the main 
character in well-known literary classics 
in this series of interactive adventures 
that teach creativity, common sense, and 
resourcefulness while building an 
appreciation of English literature. In 
Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Is- 
land, the player, alias Jim Hawkins, 
must outwit Long John Silver in the 
search for the gold. As Alice in Wind- 
ham's adaptations of Lewis Carroll's A I- 
ice in Wonderland and Through the 
Looking Glass, the player encounters the 
March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the Queen 
of Hearts, the Chesire Cat, and other 
whimsical creatures in trying to escape 
Wonderland. Also published are Below 
the Root, based upon Zilpha Snyder's 
Green Sky Trilogy, and the Swiss Family 
Robinson. 

System: IBM PC, Apple II, C64 
Address: 

One Kendall Sq. 

Cambridge, MA 02 139 

(617)494-1200 ■ 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 77 



Adventures in 
LOGO Land 






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tadio Shack's LOGO Software Leads Children 
Down the Path to a Wonderland of Learning 




The thrill that comes with discovery and the 
excitement of a new experience are important 
tools you use in the classroom to encourage 
your students. 

Now Radio Shack has a computer language 
that works the same way, to help introduce stu- 
dents to important concepts in mathematics, 
computer science and problem solving. 

An Educational Tool for All Ages. Begin- 
ners and advanced students alike will enjoy 
working with LOGO, whether they are 
simply creating designs or using the 
list processing functions. And they 
can do their programming on their 
favorite Tandy computer. Super 
LOGO for the Color Computer is 
an expanded version of our popu- 
lar Color LOGO. For the TRS-80 
Model 4 and the Tandy 1000, 
1200 and 2000 MS-DOS com- 
puters, we offer Dr. LOGO from 
Digital Research. 

Super LOGO. This version 
offers list processing capabilities 
and decimal arithmetic in addition 
to "turtle" graphics which allow 
children to draw pictures. Unlike 
some versions of LOGO, Super LOGO 
lets children control several turtles simultane 
ously, so they can become familiar with 
multi-programming concepts. Super LOGO'S 
"doodle" mode is an ideal learning tool for chil- 
dren too young to read. / 






Dr. LOGO. This version is for the MS-DOS 
Tandy computers and offers superb graphics to 
draw pictures or create intricate patterns. The 
program has a large workspace, complete pro- 
gram development environment, split-screen 
debugging, on-line help, precise math capabil- 
ity and, of course, list processing capabilities. 

For more information on our LOGO pro- 
grams, visit your nearest Radio Shack Com- 
puter Center, participating Radio Shack store 
or dealer. Or contact your Radio Shack Educa- 
tional Coordinator. 



For the name of your full-time Regional 
Educational Coordinator, call 800-433-5682, 
toll free. In Texas, call 800-772-8538. 




Radio /haclf 

The Name In Classroom Computing" 

A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION 
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A 






For more Information about Radio Shack's 
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to: 

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EDUCATION 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



Math packages encourage fun, learning, and togetherness 

Pre-schoolers 

Learn 
At Home 



Penny Smith 

There is an amazing array of 
arithmetic and counting programs 
available for pre-school and pri- 
mary children. Some of the programs are 
extremely creative and interesting for 
both children and their parents. They de- 
liver what they advertise in terms of 
educational goals and entertainment 
value. Other packages are not terribly 
enthralling. As a matter of fact, in many 
cases you could save yourself a lot of 
money if you just removed the furry dice 
from your rearview mirror and let your 
three-year-old count the spots. 

In an effort to sort through some of 
the available program packages, we 
tested seven programs with pre-school- 
ers and young school-age children. Most 
of the programs were recommended for 
children in the four- to seven-year old 
range; two were recommended for eight- 
and nine-year olds. In evaluating these 
packages we tried to determine whether 
they actually accomplished their stated 
educational and entertainment goals. We 
evaluated their success in engaging and 
sustaining the children's interest. Fi- 
nally, we looked for programs that could 
not only be used by the parent as a teach- 
ing tool but could also be enjoyed by the 
child alone. 

The documentation in educational 
programs often includes a "Note to Par- 
ents." In the spirit of educational 
computing let me include the following 
note to adults who are looking for educa- 
tional software for their young charges, 
relatives and otherwise. As we tested the 
programs, we found that the ability to 
deal with certain number concepts 
developed more slowly in some children 
than in others. We had to tread lightly to 
avoid frustrating those who were not yet 
able to grasp the concepts being stressed 
in individual games. Children's abilities 
also changed dramatically during the six 
months over which we tested the various 




programs. A child who was barely able 
to count to ten when we began using the 
programs is now easily able to do simple 
addition, subtraction, and even mul- 
tiplication. Quite honestly, I can't say 
whether this dramatic leap forward was 
a result of his having worked with the 
programs or simply that he needed some 
extra time before he was ready. 

The point is, don't force your child 
to sit in a corner and wear a dunce cap if 
he can't handle a particular program. If 
he cries when he sees Mommy boot up 
Arith Magic, just put it away and leave 
him alone for a while. Bring it out a few 
weeks or months later and see if he is 
ready for it. These packages are a joy to 
use when the child is enthusiastic about 
playing with them, but trying to force 
them on an unwilling subject doesn't 
prepare your child for anything but a 
nervous breakdown. 

Ari thMagic 

These are three nifty little programs 
which can be used separately or in 
conjunction with one another to present 
a good range of basic number concepts 
for pre-school and primary children. 

Counting 

The first package. Counting, is 
geared to three- to six-year-olds and 
stresses counting and number recog- 
nition. The opening options screen lists 
two games and a stop sign which enables 
the child to exit the program. Game One, 
Introduction to Numbers, allows the 
child to type any number from 1 to 9. The 
computer will then display that number 
of animated objects on the screen. A 
question mark on the screen at the begin- 
ning of the game prompts the child to en- 
ter his choice of numbers. The proper 
amount of animated objects then ap- 
pears on the screen. The objects then exit 



the screen one by one, allowing the child 
to count them as they go. The objects 
(ballerinas, balls, seals, horses) return 
with a large numeral to reinforce the 
association between the symbol and the 
number of objects. 

The second game in this package is 
the Counting Game. In this game the 
computer goes first. It presents the ob- 
jects. The child must count them and en- 
ter the correct number. The computer 
allows three tries to select the correct an- 
swer, after which it helps the child count 
the objects. 

The processes of counting and 
associating the appropriate number with 
a group of objects are essential compo- 
nent skills for the effective mastery of 
number, counting, and quantity con- 
cepts. This is a program that a child can 
use alone or with an adult. It is definitely 
geared to the non-reader. Even the op- 
tion screen displays a symbol for each 
game along with the written title. This 
program, as is the case with so many pre- 
school packages, seems to be much more 
attractive to the child if an adult is there 
to encourage him and give help when it is 
needed. 

The Counting Game is effective 
when used by the child alone as well. 
This is a nice option since children do 
make discoveries on their own when they 
have the time to experiment and explore 
both right and wrong answers. It's 
harder to do this with an adult looking 
over your shoulder and knowing which 
key you "ought" to push. 

Addition 

ArithMagic Addition is aimed at 
four- to seven-year-olds. It takes the con- 
cept of counting presented in the preced- 
ing program one step further to include 
simple addition problems. In the Addi- 
tion Game, the computer displays two 
numbers for the child to add. Each num- 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 81 



EDUCATION 



PRODUCT REVIEW 




Software Profile 



I: ArithMogic (Counting, Addition, 

Subtraction) 
Author: Roger Schank 
Type: Educational 
Recommended Age: 3 to 6 years 

(Counting) 

4 to 7 years (Addition) 

5 to 8 years (Subtraction) 
System: Apple II (48K); IBM PC 

i Disk 

: Graphic critters used to illus- 
trate and review basic arithmetic 
concepts 
Price: $39.95 

Manufacturer: Compu-Teach, Inc. 
240 Bradley St. 
New Haven, CT 06511 
(203)777-7738 
(800)44-TEACH 



ber is both shown as a numeral and 
represented by a group of objects. The 
child must count/add both groups of 
numbers and enter the correct answer. If 
the child is correct, the answer is shown, 
and the two groups of objects are com- 
bined to show the correct total sum. If 
the incorrect number is entered, the 
child is allowed to try again. After three 
tries, the computer shows the correct an- 
swer and helps the child count the 
objects. 

The Option Screen lists a Modifying 
Parameters mode in which, logically 
enough, you can change the parameters 
of the addition game to stress a particu- 
lar type of problem or numerical prop- 
erty according to your child's needs. 
This option expands the application of 
the package and allows selective 
reinforcement of addition facts. It also 
extends the life of the package and makes 
it useful for a broader age range. 

ArithMagic Addition is another 
good one. It complements and expands 
on the concepts presented in the Count- 



ing package and has the same intriguing 
graphics, which hold the non-reader's 
attention. It is not a program strictly for 
babies, though, and should be valuable 
for children in Kindergarten and pri- 
mary grades for review and extra help in 
gaining confidence in working with 
numbers. This is another program which 
has stood the test of time. It was pulled 
out of the cupboard for reruns long after 
the initial novelty had worn off. 

Subtraction 

ArithMagic Subtraction completes 
the set. It is aimed at children from five to 
eight years of age. Using the techniques 
mentioned in the first two programs, the 
subtraction package features a subtrac- 
tion game in which the computer 
presents a simple subtraction problem 
and then illustrates it using a box which 
contains the number of objects in the 
minuend of the problem. When the child 
enters the correct answer to the problem, 
the number of objects in the subtrahend 
jumps out of the box to illustrate the 
principle of subtraction. In the problem 
7 - 2, for example, two ducks jump out of 
the box leaving five. The correct answer 
appears at the top of the screen. 

I found the subtraction program to 
be the least effective of the series. Illus- 
trating the problem only after the child is 
able to figure out the answer seems a bit 
backward. There may be some great 
educational concept in force here, but I 
missed it. The young children who tested 
the program (pre-school and Kinder- 
garten age) found it difficult to keep 
track of the balloons, ducks, and horses 
they were supposed to be deleting from 
the box. The older kids were bored with 
puppies and kitties and seemed to want a 
little more action. 

Summary 

Roger Schank's ArithMagic series 
does a very good job. It begins with basic 
number recognition and the concept of 
what it means to order objects and num- 
bered groups and progresses to counting. 
Then, using the concept of counting as a 
foundation, it presents addition and 
subtraction. The series is very visual and 
concrete. Memorization of number facts 
progresses naturally through repetition. 
There is no sense of pressure or com- 
petition; all of the games move at a very 
calm, even pace. 

Finally, all of these programs can be 
used and enjoyed by a child alone or with 
the help of an adult. There are no fancy 
tricks to make them work, and the docu- 
mentation is very complete, explaining 



all of the ins and outs of running the 
games and modifying the various param- 
eters so that even a novice parent can 
understand them. 
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I have to admit to an immediate bias 
against a program which displays on the 
front of its package a chubby green 
jellybean clutching a bag of popcorn 
(probably candy-coated), an ice cream 
cone, a fudgesicle, and ajar of jellybeans 
to its bosom. However, I will try to lay 
aside my brown rice and brewer's yeast 
mentality and give this arithmetic learn- 
ing package a fair evaluation. 

Mr. Jellybean is directed by a joy- 
stick to select one of three learning 
games in the opening screen. We can 
choose to count jellybeans, subtract ice 
cream cones or add popcorn. Let's start 
with the jellybeans. Mr. Jellybean spills a 
jar of jellybeans, and the child must 
count what falls out. He must then 
maneuver Mr. J. under the piece of 
candy which contains the appropriate 
number. If the answer is correct, a happy 
face is drawn on the screen in jellybeans. 
If it is incorrect the jellybean does a flip 



Software Profile 



: The Sweet Shop 
Type: Educational 
Recommended Age: 4 to 7 years 
System: Apple II, C64 
l Disk 

: Mr. Jellybean teaches sugar- 
coated arithmetic concepts 
Price: $29.95 

Manufacturer: Eric Software Publishing 
1713 Tulare 
Fresno, CA 93721 
(209)237-0989 



82 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



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EDUCATION 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



and encourages the child to try again. 

The ice cream cone subtraction op- 
tion displays three ice cream push carts, 
two of which contain numbers in a 
subtraction problem. The third cart is 
empty. The potential answers to the 
problem are displayed on fudgesicles at 
the top of the screen. The child directs 
Mr. Jellybean to the answer. If it is cor- 
rect, he eats the ice cream. If it is wrong, 
he does a Good Humored flip and waits 
for further instructions. The ultimate re- 
ward for a correct answer is a great big 
gooey ice cream sundae. Popcorn addi- 
tion operates on the same principle as the 
other two games. 

The graphics are very well done, 
and Mr. Jellybean has some clever an- 
tics. Also, because the program is pro- 
duced for younger children, the addition 
and subtraction problems are presented 
graphically, reinforcing the number 
concepts. 

The package, unfortunately, is not 
self-correcting. If the child for some rea- 
son cannot or will not choose the correct 
answer, Mr. Jellybean continues doing 
flips until the child's next dental 
appointment. This can be a very sticky 
situation. 

The documenation on this program 
is a little sketchy and not a little hard to 
find. It is cleverly concealed in a plastic 
pocket on the front of the box. There has 
to be a note inside the box which tells you 
where to find it. This minimal 
documenation is not a significant diffi- 
culty, though, because the games are 
simple enough for a very young child to 
figure out. They require no reading abil- 
ity to operate well. 

Note to parents: It might be a good 
idea to monitor the child's behavior 
while playing the game and be ready to 
wipe the saliva from his chin before it 
damages the keyboard. 
CIRCLE 401 ON READER SERVICE CARD 

Math Magic 

If the ArithMagic series wins the 
parents' award for educational sound- 
ness. Math Magic wins the children's 
vote for "playability." Math Magic is 
essentially an arcade game with count- 
ing, addition, and subtraction practice 
thrown in for good measure. 

The object of Math Magic is to de- 
feat all the monsters by breaking down 
their walls before the child runs out of 
balls. The player scores points by bash- 
ing out individual bricks in the wall with 
a tennis ball. She can also score points by 
answering arithmetic problems which 




Software Profile 

Name: Math Magic 
Type: Educational 
Recommended Age: 4 to 9 years 
System: Apple II; IBM PC 
Format: Disk 

Summary: Monster-filled arcade game 
that teaches addition and 
subtraction 
Price: $39.99 
Manufacturer: Methods and 

Solutions, Inc. 

82 Montvale Ave. 

Stoneham, MA 02 180 

(617)438-5820 



appear periodically when the monster 
pops up from behind the wall. The ball is 
kept in motion by means of a paddle at 
the bottom of the screen. If the player 
misses the ball with the paddle, the ball 
disappears and cannot be recovered. The 
game is over when the player runs out of 
balls. The player can receive either 
points or presents for her efforts. The 
game may be set for the age of the child; 
the younger child automatically receives 
presents and the older one receives 
points. The ball speed increases with 
each successive level of play, and the 
paddle size decreases. 

In addition to allowing the adult to 
modify the game play generally by the 
child's age, the menu offers the opportu- 
nity to customize the game according to 
the individual's needs and abilities. 

■The game is infinitely easier to play 
with a joystick than with, the keyboard 
since the paddle does not respond 
quickly enough to keyboard control. 

One criticism I would mention is 
that there appears to be no provision for 
correcting entry mistakes in answering 
the math problems. Once a number is en- 
tered, I could not discover a way to clear 
it. Therefore, the child cannot check and 
correct his own mistakes before the com- 
puter buzzes and provides the right 



answers. 

Another minor matter which would 
be alleviated by a note in the documenta- 
tion is that when the child types in a two- 
digit number in answer to a problem, she 
must type the right most digit first (as 
you would when doing multi-column 
addition or subtraction). This is fine for 
the more complicated problems, but it is 
not the way younger children are accus- 
tomed to writing numbers. Since a mis- 
take in entry cannot be corrected, this 
can be quite frustrating to a child who 
knows the answer but can't make it come 
up on the screen. 

Math Magic is a fun game. The chil- 
dren enjoyed it enormously. It is particu- 
larly valuable in that it allows a broad 
range of skill levels. The ball speed and 
paddle size can be. adjusted to fit the eye- 
hand coordination of the child. The 
graphics are well done, and you can 
choose to reward the child with pictures 
of nice little presents (sailboats, horses, 
kittens, etc.) or gruesome creatures. 

Math Magic provides a nifty bit of 
practice in arithmetic or counting skills. 
Despite the elaborate customizing fea- 
tures, however, this game is not a strong 
teaching tool. The math/counting prac- 
tice occurs in a very incidental way as 
part of the game. This is not necessarily a 
defect, but it is a point to be noted in your 
evaluation. 

Math Magic is not a calm, gentle, 
let's-work-on-this-together game. It is a 
fast and competitive game that en- 
courages the child to outwit the mon- 
sters. The kids love it, and I can 
recommend it as a supplement to other 
more laid-back learning games. If it is 
treated as a game and used in concert 
with other math supplements, it should 
be a winner from both the parent's and 
the child's point of view. ■ 

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EDUCATION 



In "Growing Up Literate" we look at the 
SAT (again). 

SAT Packages 
An Update 



Betsy Staples 



The Scholastic Aptitude Test: the 
great equalizer among college-ori- 
ented people throughout the USA. I 
remember taking it, and you probably 
remember taking it. But back when I 
took it — and maybe when you took 
it — common wisdom had it that you 
could not prepare for the SAT, so very 
few people bothered to try. Your parents 
probably bought you a book of sample 
questions, and you took one or two of the 
sample tests. But since everyone knew 
that the SAT was designed to measure 
the effectiveness of 11 or 12 years of 
education, you didn't waste much time 
with it. "A good night's sleep the night 
before" was held by teachers and guid- 
ance counselors to be the best 
preparation. 

How times have changed. Students 
who take the test this year can trust tu- 
tors, cram courses, and computer soft- 
ware to bolster their confidence and 
improve their scores. And lest any doubt 
remain as to the efficacy of these aids, 
George Hopmeier, an educational con- 
sultant in Milton, FL, recently found a 
difference of 94 points on scores between 
students who used the Harcourt Brace 
Jovanovich SAT preparation program 
(the only program he tested) and those 
who had no supplementary preparation. 

The manufacturers of the four 
packages we discuss here all have "big 
names" — Digital Research; Scott, 
Foresman; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; 
and Barron's. But as we have seen before, 
a big name does not guarantee a worth- 
while product; sometimes it just means 
that a worthless product makes a louder 
noise when it flops. 

Space does not permit a detailed 
description of each package, so I will be- 
gin by describing the features that the 
packages have in common, mention sa- 
lient characteristics of each, and then list 




and rank the products and their features 
in a chart, which I hope will answer any 
remaining questions. 

Similarities 

All of the packages have extensive 
manuals, which offer, in addition to ba- 
sic instructions for loading the pro- 
grams, sample questions, tutorial 
material, and strategies for taking the 
test. All of the manuals are pro- 
fessionally and attractively prepared. 

All of the programs are easy to load 
and perform reliably throughout the 
evaluation period. We received one 
defective disk, which, after a frustrating 
call to Digital Research's technical sup- 
port staff, was cheerfully and promptly 



replaced by Owlcat International, devel- 
opers of the program. 

Because the programs are un- 
usually data-intensive, all of them spend 
a great deal of time accessing the disk. 
The worst offender on this count is the 
Barron's package which spins the disk 
for about eight seconds between ques- 
tions and at least as long when switching 
among menus. This package has as many 
"please be patient" messages as some 
programs have variations on the 
"congratulations" theme. After an hour 
or so of watching your disk drive wear 
out, you begin to lose patience with even 
the "please be patient" messages. 

The learning mode is another com- 
mon feature. At the start of a section, or 



86 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



PRODUCT REVIEW 




after answering a question, you can 
choose to have the answers to the ques- 
tions explained. Most of the explana- 
tions are clear and complete — especially 
if you have studied the tutorial informa- 
tion in the manual. The one situation in 
which this procedure breaks down is in 
the Test of Standard Written English 
when the answer tells you that a sentence 
is correct as presented. This is fine if you 
agree that the example contains no er- 
rors. If, however, you thought some- 
thing was incorrect, there is no way to 
find out why you were wrong. 

The alternative to learning mode is 
test mode, in which your answers are re- 
corded and checked just as they would be 
on an actual exam. At the end of the test 
section, whether it be an entire simulated 
SAT or a short practice session, your 
score is calculated and rendered as an 
SAT equivalent. Barron's offers a de- 
tailed analysis of your score, listing the 
various skill areas (analogies — oppo- 
sites, cause and effect, etc.) and the per- 
cent of each that you answered correctly. 
HBJ goes a step further, assigning a 
study priority to each topic. 

None of the programs has what I 
consider to be an abundance of sample 
questions. A limited number of ques- 
tions tests each skill area, so it is possible 
to memorize the correct answers. This 
could certainly be considered a draw- 
back. On the other hand, if you subscribe 
to the theory that underlies the audio- 
lingual method of foreign language 
teaching, you may believe that memoriz- 
ing a correct sentence is tantamount to 
mastering the grammatical point it 
illustrates — and that could be consid- 
ered a benefit. 

Finally, all of the packages contain 
mistakes. The Worst Offender Award in 
this category goes to the Owlcat package 



for lines which repeatedly "intesect" in 
the geometry section and the non-word 
"prophesizing" in the verbal drill sec- 
tion. All of the packages included at least 
one verbal question, the answer to which 
I was unable to accept even after a trip to 
the dictionary. 

Now, let's look at each package 
briefly to find out what distinguishes 
each from the others. 



The Perfect Score 



This somewhat pretentiously titled 
package from Mindscape, a division of 
Scott, Foresman, is the least expensive of 
the programs we tested. Written in 
MicroMotion Forth-79, it is also fairly 
efficient in terms of disk access. In learn- 
ing mode, the explanation for the pre- 
vious question remains on the screen 
while the next question is retrieved, so 
there is actually something worthwhile 
to look at while you are waiting, and you 
don't feel as though you are wasting time 
as you do with some of the other pro- 
grams. 

ThePerfect Score manual con- 
centrates on test taking strategies rather 
than sample questions. It discusses the 
types of questions you are likely to see on 
the test and suggests how to handle 
them. It also includes short vocabulary 
and math review sections, the text pas- 
sages for the reading comprehension 
questions, and the figures for the math 
questions. 

To select an answer, you move an 
arrow on the screen with the arrow keys 
on the keyboard. This makes it difficult 
to select an incorrect answer by mistake 
and almost forces you to read all of the 
choices — a good habit to get into. 

This package falls short in the 
recordkeeping department. It asks for 
your name at the beginning of each ses- 
sion, but never uses it. Nor does it record 
your scores on the timed test or the prac- 
tice sessions; once you press the spacebar 
to go on, your score is but a memory. 
Only the score of the timed test is con- 
verted to an SAT equivalent. 



Owlcat 



We tested the 60-hour Owlcat SA T 
Preparatory Course from Digital Re- 
search. An abridged 15-hour course, 
which Owlcat says offers the same docu- 
mentat ion but fewer disks, is also 
available. 

Unique features of the Owlcat pack- 
age are Buddy Study and extensive on- 
screen tutorial material. Each disk offers 




the option of Buddy Study, a game in 
which two players compete by answer- 
ing SAT-type questions as quickly as 
possible. Before you play Buddy Study, 
you might want to choose Manual, an 
option that provides an on-screen tu- 
torial on the material tested in the Les- 
sons and Buddy Study sections of that 
disk. The Manual for the math disks in- 
cludes appropriate on-screen graphics. 
When using the verbal disks, you have 
the additional option of asking for help 
from a dictionary before answering the 
question in learning mode. 

The documentation of the Owlcat 
package is its strong point. I found it 
both helpful and attractive. The tutorial 
material is clear, concise, and complete; 
examples abound, and the explanations 
are among the best I have seen anywhere. 
From a purely aesthetic standpoint, I ad- 
mired the large format loose-leaf pages 
printed on heavy glossy stock, and as an 
aelurophile, I found the illustrations of 
cats that decorate the pages amusing. 

On the negative side, I always 
downgrade programs that do not allow 
the user to change an answer before 
entering it. Owlcat gives you only one 
chance to type the correct letter; if your 
finger slips off the E and hits the D, that's 
too bad, your answer is recorded as D. 
Even the College Board lets you change 
your answers — as long as you remember 
to bring along a good eraser. And then 
there are those careless typos (on the disk 
only) — what a shame that they detract 
from the quality of an otherwise fine 
package. 

A final bit of bad news concerns the 
Diagnostic disk, which includes a sam- 
ple test and analyzes your scores. This 
disk can be used only once. If you want to 
take the test again or administer it to 
more than one student, you must make 
backup copies and use a new one for each 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 87 



EDUCATION 



test. Even worse news is that you find out 
about this feature by trying to take the 
test a second time and having the pro- 
gram tell you "Sorry, you have already 
taken this test." I was unable to Find even 
a hint of it in the documentation. The 
good news is that you can make backup 
copies of this and all other disks in the 
package. 

If the documentation of the 15-hour 
version is truly identical to the longer 
version I evaluated, the shorter version is 
probably a better buy. 

Barron's Computer SAT 
Study Program 

Barron's has been helping high 
school students prepare for the SAT for 
decades. In fact, the copyright dates on 
How to Prepare for College Entrance 
Examinations stretch all the way back to 
1 954 (it was probably the book your par- 
ents bought you). The problem is that 
Barron's transition to the computer age 
has not been a smooth one. 

The package itself, a 7.5 lb. behe- 
moth, weighs more than some computers 



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the books that come with the program. 
One of them is a small User's Manual that 
describes the program and provides 
instructions for use. That is "documenta- 
| tion." The remaining 1300+ pages com- 



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prise Barron's Verbal Workbook, Math 
Workbook, and How to Prepare. All three 
are replete with sample tests, explana- 
tions, and discussions of test taking strat- 
egy. They are worth every penny of the 
$20.85 it would cost tobuy them sa/w soft- 
ware in your local bookstore. 

"Where, then, does the software 
come in," you ask. And well you might 
ask; I certainly did. A bit of investigation 
reveals that in this case the software 
serves primarily as an electronic answer 
sheet. You read the questions from the 
books and type in A, B, C, D, E, or P (for 
pass). In Question (learning mode), the 
computer gives you a hint and a second 
chance if your first answer is wrong. A 
brief explanation follows, whether you 
made a correct choice or not. 

In Test mode, your sophisticated 
high-tech hardware displays the num- 
bers from 1 to 25. Again, you read the 
questions in the book and type in the let- 
ters that correspond to the correct an- 
swers. This time, as in a real test 
situation, there is no feedback at all. At 
the end of the test, your answers are dis- 
played again with the correct answers 
alongside them. If you want an explana- 
tion of a given answer, you type its num- 
ber, and the explanation appears. But it 
is up to you to spot the wrong answers. 

At the end of each sample test, the 
computer calculates your score and 
prints or displays an analysis of your 
skills. It is your responsibility to transfer 
the analysis of your score to a chart in the 
back of the User's Manual. 

The people at Barron's have mas- 
tered the art of writing books to help stu- 
dents prepare for the SAT. They missed 
the boat entirely when they tried to apply 
their years of mastery to a new medium. 
If you like the Barron's approach, buy 
the books and forget the software. 



Computer Preparation for the SAT 

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich is a vet- 
eran in a young industry; their Computer 
Preparation for the SA T has been on the 
market for three years. Like Barron's, 
the HBJ package relies heavily on a book 
that was apparently not intended to be 
used with a computer. The book, How to 
Prepare for the SA T, is a stand-alone 
course complete with practice tests, tu- 
torial material, explanations, and test 
taking strategies. 

Again, I found both the idea and the 
practice of answering questions from a 
book on an electronic answer sheet more 
than a little distressing. It just doesn't 
seem to take full advantage of the tech- 



88 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



nology, and balancing the book between 
various body parts and the minute 
amounts of empty space surrounding my 
computer was tedious. Several times I in- 
advertently skipped test questions and 
had to go back when I Anally realized 
that my answers were not where they 
ought to have been. But, of course, that 
can happen on the SAT, too. 

Based on your scores on the test, the 
computer will create for you a study 
plan, assigning high, medium, or low 
priority to the various topics for which 
drills are available. In the drills, you are 
told immediately whether your answer is 
right or wrong and asked whether or not 
you want an explanation. The math 
explanations are better than the verbal 
ones, some of which seem to stop just a 
bit short of providing all the information 
you need to understand the answer. 

Responses in the drill section are al- 
most instantaneous; there is no disk ac- 
cess between questions; while using 
Computer Preparation, I neither feared 
for the health of my disk drive nor 
wished I had learned to crochet in 
college. 




NlEWS 







PLtTE PROGRAM FOR 
SCORING HIGH OH THE 
SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST 



<2) 



The thing that struck me most force- 
fully about Computer Preparation was 
that its questions seemed significantly 
more difficult than the questions in other 
packages. Not having taken the SAT in 
many years, I cannot say which of the 
programs offers questions most similar 
to those on the test. I can say, however, 



that of the four reviewed here, the HBJ 
package offers the hardest and Perfect 
Score, the easiest questions. 

Another unique feature of the HBJ 
package is the Vocabulary Flashcard 
disk, which offers 1000 items for drill 
and practice. A word appears on the 
screen and you are supposed to "look at 
the word and think of its definition." 
You then press the spacebar, and the 
definition appears below the word. Next, 
you press W or R to tell the computer 
whether your guess was right or wrong, 
so it can continue to quiz you on the ones 
you don't know. Again, not exactly op- 
timum utilization of the available 
technology. 

All things considered, HBJ seems to 
have eased into the computer age some- 
what more smoothly than Barron's has, 
but the package is still a far cry from 
state-of-the-art. A spokeswoman for 
HBJ told me that an updated package, 
which will incorporate many of the ad- 
vances in software design that have oc- 
curred during the past three years, is 
underway. I look forward to reviewing it 
for you. ■ 



Comparison of SAT Preparation Software 



Nam* 


The Perfoct Scons 


Owkat 60-hour SAT 
Preparatory Coutm 


0wkatl5-houcSAT 
Prcpof story Course 


laTIW m vOIIe^PlrTOJ 

SAT Study Program 


tor the SAT 


System 


Apple, IBM, C64 


Apple, IBM 


Apple, IBM 


Apple, IBM, C64 


Apple, Atari, IBM, C64 

TRS 80 Models III and 4 


Disks/Sides 


6/12 


9/9 


4/4 


3/6 


2/4 


Price 


$69.95 


$249.95 


$89.95 


$89.95 


$79.95 


Documentation 












Appearance 
Tutorial Material 


A 
C 


A 

A 


A 
A 


B 
B 


B 
B 


Test Taking Strategy 
Mechanics 


A 
A 


A 



A 
D 


A 
B 


A 
B 


Program 

Speed 

Tutorial Material 


A- 
A 


C 
A 


C 

A 


F 

C 


A 
B 


Number of Questions 


A 


B 


C 


A 


B 


Recordkeeping 
Errors 


F 
B 


A 

C 


A 

C 


C 
B 


C 
A 


Overall Rating 


B 


B 


B 


C 


B 



The Perfect Score 

Mindscope, Inc. 
3444 Dundee Rd. 
Northbrook, IL 60062 
(312)480-7667 

403ONR(AOFRSH(Vr. 



Owlcat 60-hour & 15-hour 
SAT Preparatory Course 

Digital Research, Inc. 

60 Garden Ct. 

Pocif ic Grove, CA 93950 

(408)649-3896 

404ONR£ADfRSfRVI 



Barron's Computer 
SAT Study Program 

Barron's Educational Series 
1 13 Crossways Park Dr. 
Woodbury, NY 11 797 
(516)921-8750 

405ONRfA(>fRSfRv: 



Computer Preparation 
for the SAT 

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 
1250 Sixth Ave. 
San Diego, CA 92101 
(619)699-6335 

lOoONRtAIXRStRVH 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 89 



Three more firsts 
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And it does all that for the price of 
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a> At80 



c.p.s., the D-80IF is the fastest 
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Xerox. It has a built-in double bin 
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And the D-36 spells 
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printing between maintenance calls. 

But Xerox didn't stop there. 
Each of these new machines is 
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• all easy to use. 




They're also a part of Team Xerox, 
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So if you're looking 
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the people who've been in the busi- 
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exL 25, your local Xerox office, an 
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or send your business card to Xerox 
Corporation, Dept. 15051, PO. 
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EDUCATION 



PRODUCT REVIEW 



A valuable computer aid to choosing a college — 
for Apple, IBM, and TRS-80 computers 

College Explorer 



David H.Ahl 



Every year hundreds of thousands of 
high school seniors make a decision 
that will affect the rest of their lives: 
What college shall I go to? This decision 
is influenced by many objective and 
subjective factors: guidebooks, campus 
visits, opinions of family and friends, 
location, curriculum offered, and scores 
of others. Unfortunately, most students 
do not have the patience to wade through 
the descriptions of the nearly 3000 col- 
leges in the U.S. to determine which ones 
best meet their requirements. Nor do 
guidance counselors who may have 100 
or more students to advise. 

Enter the computer. In 1973, the 
Educational Testing Service devised a 
program, SIC il. for students to use in 
selecting a college or career. It ran on a 
fairly large PDP-1 1 configuration; thus 
relatively few systems were installed, 
mostly in large school districts and at 
community colleges. 

Today, however, with the increas- 
ing capacity of microcomputers, it is 
possible to put a college selection pack- 
age such as The College Explorer into a 
much smaller machine. The program 
and database are still quite sizable; the 
Apple version, for example, requires a 
64K machine. 

The Apple package includes five 
disks. Disk 1 (the main program) is pro- 
tected, and a backup is provided. Disks 
2, 3, and 4 (data anu utilities) can be 
copied. The program output is keyed to 
college descriptions in the 1800-page 
College Handbook, which is included 
with the package. Two copies of a 20- 
page student manual are included along 
with two student worksheets (schools 
will want to copy the worksheets). There 
is also a 7-page counselor manual, a sheet 
of technical specifications, and a war- 
ranty card (which must be returned to 
get annual updated editions of the data- 
bases at the reduced price of $ 11 9). 

The College Explorer allows a user 
to develop a personal college preference 
profile made up of the features most im- 



1 








6'r VENTURE 


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LOCATION 

COLLEGE SE.-'|t,G 

enrcllien size 
publ]:-pr:u«tE 

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Rgure 1 . Screen display shows coNogcs 
CMnMWtcd by coch of 1 2 selection factors. 



Software Profile 



: College Explorer 
Type: College selection package 
System: 64K Apple II, IBM PC, TRS-80 
Model III and 4 
hDisk 

: An excellent aid in choosing a 
college 

Mm $189 

Manufacturer: The College Board 
888 Seventh Ave. 
New York, NY 10106 
(212)582-6210 



portant to him. The profile can be re- 
viewed and modified until it accurately 
reflects his interests. The computer will 
then search through a list of colleges and 
universities to And those that match the 
profile. 

When Disk 1 is loaded it asks the 
user's name, sex, and the date. Then a 
menu is presented which allows him to 
go to a tutorial instruction session, build 
a profile, review or modify the profile, re- 
load a previous profile, or end the ses- 
sion. Using the program is simplicity 
itself. There are only two active keys: 
spacebar to move to various menu items 



and Return to choose an item. 

The College Explorer uses 1 2 factors 
that high school students frequently cite 
as important in selecting a college: 

• Degree level (Bachelor or 
Associate) 

• Curriculum categories (the back 
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• Special programs (accelerated 
study, honors program, employment 
service, handicapped facilities, and 
many others) 

• Athletics (intercollegiate or intra- 
mural for specified sports) 

• Student activities (10 choices) 

If the user has no preference for a 
particular factor, it can be skipped. Also, 
the instructions note that choosing just 
one option under certain factors, say 
enrollment size, can be very limiting; in 
those cases a range is recommended such 
as the option one prefers plus one smaller 
or larger. 

After all the options have been en- 
tered, the program directs the user to in- 
sert a data disk. The package includes 
data on 1755 colleges offering associate's 
degrees and 1 659 offering bachelor's de- 
grees. The search is then initiated and, at 
the end of each region, a summary ap- 
pears showing the number of colleges 
eliminated by each factor and the total 
number of colleges meeting all of one's 
criteria (see Figure 1). 

At the end of the search, several op- 
tions are presented: modify the profile, 
print (or display) thecolleges found, save 
the profile on disk, or start over (for the 
next user). 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 93 




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EDUCATION 



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•• ENROLLMENT SIZE •• 




COPYRIGHT (C) 1984 BY COLLEGE ENTRANCE 


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NAME: DETTA AHL 






DATE: 11/23/84 


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Figure- 2. Pot lion off output from o nin of the program. 



A Broadening Experience 

We found it very easy to use the pro- 
gram; the tutorial at the beginning was 
scarcely necessary. The 20-page student 
manual is easy to understand. Like the 
tutorial, it is practically unnecessary ex- 
cept for the list of curriculum categories 
and majors in the Appendix. 

The instruction manual states that a 
good goal is 20 to 30 colleges to be exam- 
ined in more detail. With no prompting 
other than that provided by the pro- 
gram, one college-bound junior ran the 
program and came up with a list of 21 
possible schools. She then changed a few 
factors and added some states, and the 
program produced 28 possibilities. 

The other students who tried the 



program also produced workable lists 
and, as a whole, felt they learned a great 
deal by using the program. One thought 
the program was in error because a 
particular college didn't appear on his 
list; however, he learned to his surprise 
that one of his chosen options was not a 
feature of that college, and it was re- 
moved during the search. 

In all, we felt the package was easy 
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Students enjoyed using the program, 
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broadened their horizons in selecting a 
college with a curriculum that would 
mesh with their interests. ■ 

C1RCIE 407 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



POETRY 



Subatomic 
Tombstones 



Peter Payack 



Sonic elementary particles have a lifetime 

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II you could peer through a powerful enough 

microscope you would see 
an endless graveyard of infinite rows 

oi infinitesimal tombstones 
floating about the rolling gravity waves 
ol microscopic space. 

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a + or or 
in accordance with its electrical beliefs. 



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VOIUME 11 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 93 



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CIRCLE 145 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



PROGRAMMING 



The Fibonacci sequence revisited 



More Than One Way 
To Skin a Rabbit 



David H.Ahl 



Many moons ago. we printed a letter from Konrad 
Kossman with a longish program for producing the 
Fibonacci sequence. In his letter he asked if there was 
a better way. I offered two alternatives, admittedly written in 
some haste. Readers replied with a vengeance pointing out 
several additional ways to generate this famous sequence. But 
before listing some of these gems, let us put the problem in a 
somewhat better historical perspective. 

Leonardo Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who 
lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. In Liher abaci 
( 1 202). for centuries a standard work on arithmetic and algebra, 
he advocated the adoption of Arabic notation. In Practica 
geometriae (1220) he organized and extended the material 
then known in geometry and trigonometry. 

In Liber abaci, Fibonacci proposes an interesting problem 
of the rabbits. Suppose we put a pair of adult breeding rabbits 
in a cage to produce offspring and that after two months and 
each month thereafter they produce another pair, which, in 
turn, breed after two months. (This is hypothetical, of course, 
as rabbits do not reach maturity before four months of age.) If 
all the rabbits survive, how many pairs will there be at the end 
of any given month, or the end of one year'.' 

The solution to the problem can be easily diagrammed— at 
least for the first six months or so. If you draw a rabbit 
diagram, you will find the number of pairs of rabbits in 
successive months is 1, 1, 2. 3, 5. 8. 13, 21... 

Fibonacci did not explore the question of sequences more 
deeply, and it was not until the 19th century that Francois 
Edouard Anatole Lucas investigated the Fibonacci series and 
formally stated that each term is the sum of the two before. 
Thus, it invites computation by means of a computer program. 

In the original article, my little three-line program to 
generate the series was as follows: 

10 X=l:Y=l :PRINT till 
20 Z=X+Y:PRINT Z; 
30 X«=Y:Y=Z:G0T0 20 

Several readers pointed out that it is unnecessary to print 
out the first two elements of the series. Martin Mersky of 
Phoenixville. PA showed that the program could be easily 
amended to generate the entire sequence. 



10 X=l 

20 Z=X+Y:PRINT Z- 

30 X=Y:Y=Z:G0T0 : 







A further modification which Martin feels illustrates what 
is actually going on. and is also simple and elegant is as follows: 



10 X-i 

20 Y=X:X=Z 

30 Z=X+Y:PRINT 



Z S : GOTO 20 



Ramunas Motekaitis of College Station. TX commented 
that my program disturbed his sixth sense of efficient program- 




ming and asked, rhetorically. "Why code more than is 
absolutely necessary?" Here is his program: 

10 Y«l 

20 PRINT Y; :Z=X+Y 

30 X=Y:Y=Z:GOTO 20 

Mikko Nieminen of Finland took a somewhat different 
approach which calculates two new terms in each loop. Not 
surprisingly, all five of these programs run at exactly the same 
speed. 

10 X=i:Y-l 

20 PRINT XlYl 

30 X = X+Y:Y=X-t-Y:G0T0 20 

All of the above approaches to calculating the Fibonacci 
sequence use recursion and must calculate every number in 
the sequence to reach a given point. However. George Miller 
of San Francisco and Joseph Freedman of Willow Grove, PA 
both mentioned a wonderful formula from linear algebra that 
produces any given number in the series. 

F - (1//5 ) [((1 + /H )/2) n - ((1 - /§" )/2) n ] 
n 

This formula is discussed in detail in Donald E. Knuth's 
book. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. /(pp. 78-83). 
Simply stated, the closed form of a function is different from 
the iterative and the recursive forms in that you furnish a 
number, n, and the formula calculates the value for that 
number. 

You can easily write a program with the above formula to 
calculate Fibonacci numbers, but it will not work! The reason 
is that the computer uses an approximation to calculate the 
value of the square root of 5. Here are two programs that use 
this formula to calculate any Fibonacci number, the first by 
George Miller and the second by Joseph Freedman. Notice 
the corrections for the roundoff errors. 

10 FOR N=l TO 20 

20 PRINT INT<<.5+SQRi5) + . 5)'N/S0RC5)+. 5) ; 

30 NEXT N 

10 FOR N-l TO 20 

20 PRINT INT< f.Ul+SQR<5>>/2)~N- 
i il-SQR<5))/2)- v N)/SQR<5)+. 5)5 
30 NEXT N 

To generate an entire sequence of numbers, the formula 
method is considerably slower than the recursive approach: 
however, to generate just one number, particularly a high 
order one. the formula is certainly preferred. Miller's program, 
incidentally, is somewhat faster than Freedman's. 

To Mr. Fibonacci go our thanks for his rabbit problem: 
and to our readers, thanks for helping skin it in a variety of 
interesting ways! ■ 



98 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



PROGRAMMING 



Wondrous Numbers 
And Other Diversions 



W. Lloyd Milligan 



Tortoise: Let me. . . show you a property which is 
very easy to define, and yet for which no terminating 
test is known. I'm not saying there won't ever be one 
discovered, mind you — just that none is known. You be- 
gin with a number — would you care to pick one? 

Just a few pages before the end of Douglas Hofstadter's 
marvelous book, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Braid, 
the Tortoise tells Achilles about "wondrous" numbers. 
Begin with any whole number. If it is odd, multiply it by 3 
and add I . If it is even, divide it by 2. Continue in the same way 
with the resulting number. If applying this process repeatedly 
eventually brings you to 1, then the number you started with is 
a wondrous number. 

The curious t hing about the wondrous property is that you 
can never be sure (by applying this algorithm) that a number is 
not wondrous. 

The Tortoise leaves Achilles a puzzle: 

Tortoise: Why don't you try starting with 27? Mind 
you. I don 't promise anything. But sometime, just try it, 
for your amusement. And I'd advise you to bring along 
a rather large sheet of paper. 

Perhaps one sort of "rather large sheet of paper" is the per- 
sonal computer. And who having such a sheet of paper in hand 
could resist the Tortoise's challenge? 
You first need a number, so 

10 INPUT N 
Ifitisodd, multiply it by 3 and add I. 

20 IF N/2 < > INT(N/2)THENN = N*3+1 
If it is even, divide it by 2. 

30 IF N/2 = INT(N/2) THEN N = N/2 
If you have reached 1 , then stop and declare the number to be 
wondrous. 

40IFN=1 THEN STOP 
If not, repeat the entire process. 

50 GOTO 20 
This five-step program works as intended; however, the 
reader is cautioned that on some trips through the loop the 
value of n changes twice! 

It would be interesting to count how many iterations of the 
wondrous process are required to make a number wondrous, 
and, in particular, to make 27 wondrous. To this end we 
sharpen and decorate our program a bit (see Listing 1 ). You 



will want to verify this for yourself, but when I asked my pro- 
gram whether 27 was wondrous, it told me that 27 is a won- 
won-wondrous number. 

Primes and Polynomials 

Martin Gardner offers the following problem. Starting 
with the prime number4l, add 2 to get another prime43. Then 
add 4 to get 47. 47 + 6 is 53 and 53 + 8 is 61. So far there have 
been nothing but primes. Does this procedure always yield 
primes? 

Toanswerthis question, we procure a rather large sheet of 
paper, and proceed to write a small program (see Listing 2). We 
may be satisfied on the first runtoexamine 10,000 terms of the 
sequence, or else be prepared to wait a while. 

As it happens we won't have to wait long. Because the 
forty-first term in the sequence turns out to be composite. 
But! — wasn't 41 the number we started with? Is this some kind 
of coincidence? 

Actually not. Let's look at another way of characterizing 
the sequence. The kth term is given by 

(1) k 2 + k + 41 
This is easy to see, if you recall that the sum of the first k pos- 
itive integers is k'(k + 1 )/2. The first k even numbers 



k 







Listing 1 . Program to test H a number has the wondrous property. 



lO 


PRINT -WONDROUS NUMBER TESTER- 


20 


INPUT "ENTER NUMBER TO BE TESTED" IN 


30 


M-N 


40 


I-O 


SO 


IF M< > 1 THEN 80 


*0 


PRINT II* ITERATIONS ARE NEEDED TO 




MAKE "INI" WONDROUS . " 


70 


GOTO 20 


80 


IF M/2-INT (M/2) THEN HO 


90 


I-I + l 


lOO M«M#3+1 


HO I-I + l 


120 M«M/2 


130 GOTO SO 


140 END 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 99 



PROGRAMMING 



is twice the sum of the first k positive numbers (2 2_ >)• 

i=l 
Clearly, ifweset k = 41, expression (1) factors as41 '(41 + 1 + 1). 
Indeed for any prime p, 

(2) k 2 + k + p 

is divisible by p whenever k = p. This result is trivial, but it 
points in the direction of a less trivial one. You might imagine 
that some sufficiently complex polynomial 

(3) a + a 1 k+a 2 k 2 + ... + a„k n 

is a formula for prime numbers. That this cannot be so was first 
shown by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707- 
1 783). See note [1]. 

The sufficiently assiduous reader (Hofstadter's term) has 
probably noticed that the key to the method of Listing 2 is that 
k 2 + k + c differs from (k-1) 2 + (k-1) + c by exactly 2'k. 
There is a more general method of evaluating polynomials 
which is of interest . Expression (3) can be re-written as follows: 

(4)k-(...k-(k-(a„-k+ a„.i) +a„. 2 ) + ... + a,) + a„ 
I first learned of this method of evaluating polynomials from 
the Hewlett-Packard HP-55 mathematics program handbook. 
This numerical method works especially well with H-P's 
stack-oriented "reverse Polish notation" pocket calculators, 
but is useful in a variety of applications. 

A fairly easy programming exercise is to write a routine 
for evaluating a polynomial, given an ordered n + 1 tuple of co- 
efficients and some fixed value x as input. Such a routine can be 
used, for example, to compute the sum of the first n kth powers 
using commonly available formulas. 

Counting Things 

The first mathematical thing that most of us learn to do is 
count. This is as far as many people ever get. For this reason, 
mathematicians have set aside a special branch of their field 
called "combinatorial analysis." Ironically some of the most 
difficult mathematical problems involve counting — it is from 
the counting difficulty, for example, that many finite probabil- 
ity problems inherit their treachery. 

Helpful formulas to assist with counting things abound. 
For example, the number of distinct subsets of a finite collec- 
tion of n objects is 2". To prove this, imagine that each object is 

Listing 2. This program searches for the smallest composite 
number in the sequence 43, 47, 53, ... Other sequences c + 2, 
C + 2 + 4,c + 2 +4 6, ... may be examined by changing 
the assignment at line 10. 



lO C-41 






20 FOR N-2 TO 20000 


STEP 2 


30 C-C*N 






40 GOSUB lOO 






SO IF P-l THEN 


GOTO 


80 


60 PRINT C -N» ■< 


"JNJ-IS DIVISIBLE BY "18 


70 STOP 






BO NEXT N 






lOO P-O 






110 Z-SQR(C) 






120 FOR 0-3 TO 


Z STEP 2 


130 X-C/Q 






140 IF X=INT<X> 


THEN RETURN 


ISO NEXT Q 






160 P*l 






170 RETURN 






180 END 







labelled 1,2 n. We associate with each subset a binary 

number using the following rule of correspondence: If the ob- 
ject labelled k is a member of the subset, then the V.th digit of the 
binary number is 1 ; otherwise it is 0. Clearly, there are exactly 
2" such distinct binary numbers, and therefore 2 n subsets. 

The number of subsets of size k in a collection of n objects 
(k < n)is 

(5) n!/k!(n-k)! 
Expression (5) is called the combinations formula because it 
stands for the number of combinations of n things taken k at a 
time. It is also equivalent tothecoefficientofthekf/i term in the 
expansion of the binomial (a + b) n . The binomial coefficient is 
usually written (R). Since the total number of subsets in a set of 
size n must equal the sum of all subsets of size k for each 
k = 0, 1 n; we have 

(6) £(!!) = 2" 
k=0 

Can you think of a simple direct proof of expression (6)? (See 
note [2].) 

Unfortunately, not every counting problem is easily re- 
duced to a simple formula as in the preceding examples. For 
some problems, however, it is possible to exhibit counting al- 
gorithms. Several such Fortran programming examples, some 
quite technical, are given in the book Combinatorial Al- 
gorithmsby Albert Nijenhuisand Herbert Wilf. 

Counting Ties at Pool 

The game of pool is usually played with 1 5 balls numbered 
1 to 15. For present purposes, assume that there are two 
players. 

One variant, called "rotation," is scored by adding the val- 
ues of all the balls pocketed by each player. To win this game a 
player must score 6 1 or more points. Sixty points to each player 
constitutesa tie-game. In general, ties are possible if and only if 
thetotalnumberofballsis4 , kor4*k-l,wherek = 1,2,3, .. . 

It is apparent that the number of distinct ways in which 
rotation can be tied is even. For any particular tie-distribution 
of balls, exchanging the identity of the players yields a com- 
plementary tie-game. 

Another way of expressing this symmetry principle is to 
say that for any particular ball, the number of tie-distributions 
in which the ball belongs to one player is equal to the number of 
ties in which the ball was scored by the other player. 

When I first thought of the problem of counting ties at 
pool (rotation), I hoped that the symmetry concept would gen- 
eralize very quickly to a formula for ties whose argument is the 
number of balls. If such a formula exists, however, I have not 
been able to find it. 

To get an idea of how to design an algorithm for counting 
ties, it is helpful to consider how you would enumerate tie-dis- 
tributions exhaustively using pencil and paper. The task is to be 
sufficiently systematic as to ensure against repetition and, at 
the same time, to permit no accidental omissions. With the 1 5- 
ball pool game this is surprisingly difficult. 

However, with a smaller number the task is accomplished 
more easily. Table 1 enumerates all tie-distributions which in- 
clude the 8-ball in a hypothetical game played with eight balls. 
(Let's call this the order-8 game.) A tie-score is obtained in the 
order-8 game when each player scores exactly 1 8 points. 

Seven distributions are shown in the table. Taken together 
with the seven complementary distributions, there are 14 ways 
to tie in all. 



REATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



There is a pattern in Table 1 , but it is somewhat difficult to 
describe. Moreover, care is essential if the description is to 
form the basis of a general algorithm. 

Listing 3 presentsa program for counting ties in the order- 
n game. The actual counting part of this program is contained 

Tabic 1. 



Ties ; 


it order-8 pool (rotation) 


which 


include the 8-ball. 




8 


7 


3 




8 


7 


2 1 




8 


6 


4 




8 


6 


3 1 




8 


5 


4 1 




8 


5 


3 2 




8 


4 


3 2 1 





Lifting 3. Program to count lies of order-n pool (rotation). Variable C 
is the tie counter; N stands for the number of balls; I is the tie score 
value; S is the sum of balls pocketed in the current try. The array 

X fn -|„;„ ji., ,,.,|,. a , tU ■■ Jii ■;■!■■ ■■! I - u - 
(MIIUHIJi nK TOIIICS WT nimflOww POM. 



5 C 


-O 


io 


PRINT 


20 


INPUT 'ENTER NUMBER OF BALLS" IN 


30 


T» <N*N + N> /4 


40 


IF TOINT(T) THEN GOTO 220 


SO 


DIM X(N> 


60 


IF TON THEN GOTO 70 


64 


PRINT -TRIVIAL CASE... THERE ARE 2 




TIES" 


66 


STOP 


70 


K< 1 >»N 


80 


FOR 1-2 TO N 


90 


X( I>»X< 1-1 ) 


too 


X< I ) -X( I > -1 


HO 


IF X<2><1 THEN GOTO 200 


120 


IF X(I)>-1 THEN GOTO ISO 


130 


I-I-l 


140 


GOTO lOO 


ISO 


GOSUB 2SO 


160 


IF S-T THEN GOSUB 300 


170 


IF S>-T THEN GOTO lOO 


180 


NEXT I 


200 


PRINT -TOTAL POSSIBLE TIE SCORES 




- ' 1 2»C 


210 


STOP 


220 


PRINT -ERROR: NUMBER OF BALLS MUST -" 


230 


PRINT -4*K OR 4»K-1, K AN INTEGER." 


74 O 


GOTO IO 


2SO 


S-O 


260 


FOR J-l TO I 


270 


S"S*X (J) 


280 


NEXT 3 


290 


RETURN 


300 


C-C*l 


305 


PRINT 


310 


FOR J-l TO I 


320 


PRINT X< 3) I 


330 


NEXT 3 


340 


RETURN 


3SO 


END 



in the 12 lines numbered 70 through 180. The algorithm is 
based on the pattern in Table 1 . Before studying Listing 3 you 
may wish to design your own counting program. 

The value of a tie score in the order-n game is computed at 
line 30. While line 40 tests to see that a tie game is indeed 
possible. 

It is evident that in an order-n game, neither player can 
pocket more than n balls. So at line 50 we dimension an array to 
contain values of the balls pocketed in tie trys including the n- 
ball (see line 70). There is one trivial case (n = 3) in which the 
value of a tie score is equal to n. This case is disposed of at line 
60. 

As was shown in t he preceding section there are 2" subsets 
of a set of n elements. Thus there are 2" total different games of 
order-n rotation neglecting the order in which balls are pock- 
eted by the players. For the usual order- 15 game this is the 
familiar number 32,768. 

As in Table 1 , the program uses the principle that the num- 
ber of ties with the n-ball equals the number of ties without it. 
Line 70 pockets the n-ball. 

The counting loop structure is somewhat complicated be- 
cause the index variable is altered within the loop as well as by 
the next statement. The value of I denotes the number of balls 
pocketed in the current try for a tie-distribution. 

To understand how the counting algorithm works, it is 
helpful to trace the execution of the program for at least one 
row of the 8-ball problem. Unfortunately this analysis is too de- 
tailed to include here. 

On first entering the for loop, the n-1 ball is pocketed. 
The value of each pocketed ball is set up experimentally at line 
100. The loop (and program) terminating test is performed at 
line 1 10. 

Whenever the last ball pocketed has an invalid value 
( < 1), "unpocket" it and decrement the value of the previous 
ball (lines 120-130). When the last ball is valid, line 150 trans- 
fers control to a subroutine (line 250) which computes the 
score for each try. 

If a tie is found (line 160), the subroutine at line 300 in- 
crements the tie counter and prints the distribution. Printing 
distributions greatly enhances the interest of the program. Fi- 
nally, line 170 decides whether to decrement the value of the 
current ball or to pocket another ball for the next try. 

Summary 

This article has described three recreational program- 
ming problems. Recreational problems are helpful in develop- 
ing analytical and programming skills. Their real appeal, 
though, is in their capacity for discovery. I have tried to share 
the sense of enjoyment one experiences on finding something 
unexpected or curious. Who knows whether the next problem 
may lead to a truly interesting finding? 

Footnotes 

[1] Obviously, not every polynomial P is divisible by its 
constant term . But , if N is an integer such that P(N) = M , then 
it is easily shown that for any integer k, M divides P(N + k* M). 
Since E cannot assume any given value more than n times, 
where n is the degree of E. there is sure to be a value of 
P(N + k'M) distinct from ± M for some choice of k. 

[2] Since (jj) is the binomial coefficient, 
n 

£ (R) - ( I ♦ I »" 2 " 
k=l ■ 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING lOl 



NOTEBOOK 
COMPUTING 

Selecting a notebook portable computer under $ 1 000 



David H.Ahl 

Now that the big three in notebook 
portables (Tandy, NEC, and 
Epson) have all released their sec- 
ond generation of machines, perhaps it is 
time to take a look at just what you can 
get for $ 1000 or less. The way we see it, 
there are five serious contenders: the 
Tandy Models 100 and 200, NEC PC- 
8201 and 8401 Starlet, and Epson PX-8 
Geneva. Unfortunately, none of them 
emerges as a clear winner. 

As in selecting any kind of com- 
puter, it is important to start out by de- 
fining exactly what you intend to do with 
the machine today, and what you think 
you might like to do with it in the future. 
Then, a table of specifications starts to 
take on real meaning as you compare it 
against your requirements. 

As we look at the five major 
contenders in the under $ 1000 range, we 
cannot put ourselves in your place. In- 
stead, we'll try to identify the strong and 
weak points of each machine and let you 
draw your own conclusions. 

Common Characteristics 

All five machines use a CMOS 
equivalent of the old workhorse Z80A 
microprocessor. All of them have full- 
stroke keyboards with at least 56 keys. 
All have three or four fixed function keys 
and eight to ten programmable ones. All 
of the machines are virtually the same 
size and are truly portable with weights 
ranging from 3.8 to 5.0 lbs. All have an 
RS-232 port and connection for an ex- 
ternal cassette recorder. All of them 
have built-in word processing software 
(of quite different capabilities) and tele- 
communications software. 

An optional floppy disk unit is 
available for all of the machines; the 
Epson and NEC units are 3 1/2" battery 
operated units, while the Tandy unit is 
5 1/4" and AC operated. A 3 1/2" battery 
operated unit is available for the Tandy 
computers from Holmes Computer Pro- 
ducts. 

Four of the five computers have a 
parallel port, barcode reader port, built- 



in 300 baud modem, and Microsoft Ba- 
sic. Also, an optional CRT adapter is 
available for four of the five machines. 

Enough of the similarities; what are 
the differences? 

NEC PC-8401 Starlet 

This machine has the largest display 
of the group (16 lines x 80 characters). It 
also has the most ROM (96K) and ties 
with the Epson for maximum RAM 
(64K). The ROM contains the operating 
system (CP/M 2.2) plus full-featured 
word processing, spreadsheet, and tele- 
communications software. Another plus 
for the Starlet is the availability of ex- 



u, 



' nf ortu nately, no notebook 
computer under $1000 emerges 
as a dear winner. 



ternal plug-in 32K memory cartridges. 

The most glaring weakness of the 
8401 is the absence of a programming 
language; not only is Basic not built in, 
but no language is available for the com- 
puter. Personal Filer is the best database 
package of any of these machines. How- 
ever, it is still not particularly versatile. 

If you need a full-featured word 
processor and spreadsheet with lots of 
room for files, and don't want to do any 
programming, the 8401 is probably the 
best of the lot. 

Epson PX-8 Geneva 

The Geneva has the best keyboard 
of the group with some thoughtful 
touches such as LEDs to indicate caps 
lock, numeric keypad, and insert mode. 



Its 32K of ROM contains CP/M 2.2 but 
unfortunately the applications software 
is on plug-in ROM packs, only two of 
which can reside in the machine at the 
same time. The most popular four ROM 
packs are Basic, Portable WordStar. Por- 
table Calc (including Portable Sched- 
uler), and CP/M Utilities. 

Alone in the group, the Geneva has 
a built-in microcassette recorder which 
makes up for its inability to store more 
than five files in memory. For additional 
storage, Epson also offers a clamp-on 
RAM pack (64K or 128K) and a 3 1/2" 
battery-operated floppy disk drive. The 
Geneva has built-in rechargeable bat- 
teries which have the longest life of any 
of the five machines. 

Weak points include the lack of a 
parallel port (means you must have a se- 
rial printer), lack of a standard RS-232 
connector, and non-availability of a 
CRT adapter. Also, we found that 
CP/M on the Geneva was not quite as 
user-friendly as it is on the Starlet. 

If most of your work is with two 
applications (so you don't have to 
change ROM packs constantly), if you 
need built-in mass storage (microcas- 
sette), and if you need to go a long time 
between AC outlets, the Geneva is prob- 
ably your best choice. 

Tandy Model 200 

Like the Geneva, the Model 200 has 
a mid-size display, but it is arranged dif- 
ferently (16 lines x 40 characters) and is 
physically larger than the one on the Ge- 
neva. The Model 200 is basically an en- 
hanced Model 100, the major differences 
being a larger display, more memory, 
better arrangement of cursor control 
keys, and built-in spreadsheet software 
(Multiplan). 

Text, the word processing software 
package, does not have the many fea- 
tures of WordStar (on the 8401 and PX- 
8), but it is considerably easier to use. 
Also, the lack of the CP/M operating 
system (or any operating system for that 



102 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



What every Apple owner 
should know about 

WORD 

juggler: 










If you own an Apple He or He — or you're planning to 
buy one — here are a few things you should know about 
Quark's Word Juggler word processor. 

First of all. Word Juggler is the only word processor that 
gives you a powerful spelling checker and a built-in telecom- 
munications feature. So you can create a document — check 
it for spelling errors — and then send it via electronic mail. All 
with just one program. 

Plus. Word Juggler is the most easy-to-use, professional 
word processor you can buy for your Apple. Even compli- 
cated "cut-and-paste" tasks can be accomplished with just 
a few keystrokes. 

There's nothing to memorize, either. Because Word 
Juggler comes with replacement keycaps — and a special 
keyboard template — which identify principal editing and 
formatting commands. So you can focus your efforts on 
using the program, not learning it. 

Fact is. no other word processor for your Apple He or 
He gives you this unique combination of power, functionality 
and ease of use. And if all these advantages aren't compelling 
enough, check the price. Suggested retail is only $189. 

So visit your favorite dealer today. Ask for a complete 
demonstration — and for a copy of our brochure, "What 
Every Apple Owner Should Know About Word Juggler." If 
you don't have a favorite dealer, but would like one, just call 
I (800) 543-771 1. We'll fix you up. 




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■^■■■■iMMNNIUTIO 



2525 West Evans, Suite 220 
Denver CO X02 1" 



Quark and Word Juggler arc trademarks of. Quark Incorporated. Apple is a 
registered trademark of Apple Computer. Inc. 

Ask about our specially-priced educational version 



Copyright 1985. Quark Incorporated Photograph) tn Hurbaru Kastcn 

156 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



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•4 IBM IMi .t*aaaa)'Hairadrmarh<4 Pttmk* HaU In. Wtaa f araa it a trademark ,* Applied ■■ 









ARE BETTER WITH THIS. 




Meet DESQ, The Multi-Window 
Software Integrator. That's Software 
Integrator not Integrated Software 
Package. The difference between them 
makes all the difference in the world 
because an Integrator allows you to keep 
using all the applications you know ana 
love instead of limiting you to a single 
manufacturer's programs. 

Now you can go ahead and integrate 
all your software without any of your 
current applications becoming obsolete. 
Including the custom programs you've 
already invested substantial time and 
money in. 

In fact, DESQ will make your stand- 
alone applications work as a more power- 
ful, more effective whole. It actually 
adds capabilities to your programs. 

That s because DESQ has an incred- 
ible number of special features. First, of 
course, are WINDOWS, multiple spaces 
created by DESQ on your screen that 
show you several different programs. 
Not only does DESQ let you use up to 
9 programs at once, it lets you decide 



how you see them. 

DESQ also has MARK AND 
TRANSFER, the ability to transfer data 
between programs and position the infor- 
mation exactly; and NOTEPAD, the 
feature that lets you take notes and save 
ideas while you're working on another 
program. Then there's LEARN, DESQ's 
ability to remember keystrokes and com- 
mands. FILE AND PRINT is another 
terrific feature that lets you get at DOS 
while workingon something else. 

Best of all, DESQ is open-ended. 
It has the intelligence and flexibility to 
grow with you and your workload, ifou 
can add any number of applications or 
custom programs as long as they'll run 
on an IBM PC" or compatibles. You'll 
need 256K for DESQ plus memory for 
your largest program and a Winchester 
Disk running DOS 2.0, minimum. If 
you want to Know where to get DESQ 
just call 800 845-6621 (outside Califor- 
nia) for the nearest DESQ dealer. 

With DESQ, you and your software 
are going to be a lot better together. 



DESQ 



The possibilities are endless. 

Quarterdeck Office Systems 

1918 Main Street, Santa Monica, California 90405 • Telephone: 213-392-9851 



CIRCLE 136 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



NOTEBOOK COMPUTING 



matter) means the machine is more ap- 
proachable and more forgiving — a boon 
to klutzy users like me. 

In general, with its considerably less 
powerful and versatile software than 
that on the 8401 and PX-8, the Model 
200 seems more like all/2 generation 
effort. Nevertheless, if you need a good 
spreadsheet, Basic, and an occasional 
word processor in a very forgiving ma- 
chine, the Model 200 would be your best 
choice. 



Tandy Model! 00 

With all the second generation ma- 
chines, why would you look at a Model 
100? One reason: price. When the dust 



w. 



ith all the second 
generation machines, why 
would you look at a Model 100? 



settles, you have to ask yourself, are a 
twice-as-large display, spreadsheet soft- 
ware, and decent cursor keys worth over 
$400? After all, you can beef up the 
Model 100 with third party add-on 
memory (PG Design, Purple Comput- 
ing, etc.) and an excellent spreadsheet on 
ROM (Lucid from Portable Computer 
Support Group). Furthermore, there are 
several other RAM-resident spread- 
sheets available for the Model 1 00. 

Buy a Model lOOatadiscount.some 
add-on memory and additional soft- 
ware, and the only thing your extra 
$300-400 for the Model 200 gets you is 
eight more lines on the display and a di- 
amond-shaped cursor key cluster. Is it 
worth it? Only you can decide. 



NEC PC 8401 Starlet 



Comparison of Notebook Portable 



Mm 

Weight 

Display: text resolution 
Graphics resolution 
Keyboard 

Single keystroke functions 

CPU 

RAM 

Max. files in memory 

ROM 

External RAM 

External ROM 

RS-232port 

Parallel port 

Other ports 

Built-in mass storage 
Floppy disk (optional) 
Word processing 
Spreadsheet 
Database manager 
Telecommunications 
Other software 
Operating system 
Programming 
Modem (built in) 
Modem (optional) 

CRT adapter 
Battery life 
Suggested retail price 



Epson PX-8 Geneva 

8.5" x 11.5" x 1.8" 
5.0 lbs. 

8 lines x 80 chars 
64 x 480 pixels 

63 keys (LED for caps lock, 

numeric, insert mode) 

4 fixed, 10 programmable 

Z80(CMO5equiv.) 

64K 

5 

32K 

64K($329)or 128K($460) 

32K cartridges 

Yes 

No 

Serial, cassette, 
bar code, system bus 

Microcassette 

3%" battery opn ($599) 

Portable WordStar 

Portable Calc 

None 

TERM 

Portable Scheduler 

CP/M2.2 

Microsoft Basic 

300 baud 

1 200 baud direct connect 
Acoustic coupler 

No 

15 hours 

$995 



NEC PC-8401 A Starlet 

8.5" xl 1.75" x 2.2" 
4.7 lbs. 

16 lines x 80 chars 
128x480 pixels 

66 keys 

7 function keys 

3 fixed, 10 programmable 

Z80(CMOSequiv.) 

64K 

24 

96K (3 x 32K) 

32K cartridge 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Cassette, voice phone, 
direct modem, system bus 

None 

3'/," battery opn ($599) 

WordStar-To-Go 

Calc-To-Go 

Personal Filer 

Telcom 

None 

CP/M2.2 

None 

300 baud 

1 200 baud direct connect 

Optional ($249) 

8 hours 
$999 



Epson PX-8 Geneva 

r 



Tandy Model 200 




106 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



Computers Under $1000 



Tandy Model 200 

8.5" x 11.75" x 2.2" 

4.5 lbs. 

1 6 lines x 40 chars 

128x240 pixels 

56 keys 

1 2 function keys 

4 fixed, 8 programmable 

Z80(CMOSequiv.) 

24K 

46 

72K 

72K 

104K 

Yes 

Yes 

Cassette, voice phone, 
bar code, system bus 

None 

5Y 4 " AC operation 

Text 

Multiplan 

Address organizer 

Telcom 

Scheduler 

None 

Microsoft Basic 

300 baud 

None 

Optional 
1 6 hours 
$999 



Tandy Model 100 



Tandy Modal 100 

8.5" xl 1.7" x 2.0" 

3.8 lbs. 

8 lines x 40 chars 

64 x 240 pixels 

56 keys 

1 2 function keys 

4 fixed, 8 programmable 

Z80|CMOSequiv.) 

8K (32K max.) 

19 

32K 

32K (third party) 

32K (third party) 

Yes 

Yes 

Cassette, bar code, 
system bus 

None 

5'/," AC operation 

Text 

No 

Address organizer 

Telcom 

Scheduler 

None 

Microsoft Basic 

300 baud 

None 

Optional 
8- 10 hours 
$599 



NECPC-8201 

8.5" xl 1.8" x 2.4" 

3.8 lbs. 

8 lines x 40 chars 

64 x 240 pixels 

58 keys 

6 function keys 

3 fixed, 1 programmable 

Z80(CMOSequiv.) 

16K(64Kmax.) 

21 per bank 

32K 

32K cartridge 

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Cassette, bar code, 
system bus 

None 

3'/," battery opn ($799) 

Text 

None 

None 

Telcom 

None 

None 

Microsoft Basic 

No 

300 baud acoustic or 
direct connect 

Optional 

8- 10 hours 

$499 



NEC PC-8201 



If you think a Model 100 might 
meet your needs, then so might an 8201. 
The main difference between the two 
machines is that the Model 100 has a 
built-in modem whereas the 8201 has 
better cursor control keys (the same as 
the Model 200), better Basic program 
editing, and, optionally, more built-in 
and external memory. NEC also sells a 
portable3 1/2" battery (or AC) operated 
disk drive. 

PC-8201 s are being sold today at 
substantial discounts. A deeply dis- 
counted 8201 coupled with a NEC disk 
drive or SideCar memory pack (up to 
128K) from Purple Computing makes 
an attractive alternative to one of the 
three new units at about the same price. 
If you're satisfied with the limited soft- 
ware and display, but looking for more 
memory, this is probably the way to go. ■ 



Firms Mentioned in This Column 

Holmes Computer Products 
5175 Greenpine Dr. 
Salt Lake City, UT 84123 
(801)261-5652 

PG Design Electronics 
66040 Gratiot 
Richmond. MI 48062 
(313) 727-2744 

Portable Computer Support Group 
1 1035 Harry Hines Blvd. 
Dallas, TX 75229 
(214)351-0564 

Purple Computing 
2068 Ventura Blvd. 
Camarillo. CA 93010 

(805) 987-4788 



NECPC-8201 




"Do you have a lap computer that wilt/it 
this lap?" 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 107 



APPLE CART 

More on the Scribe, a programming 
contest, and Apple snuggles up to IBM 



Owen Linzmayer 



Happy Birthday Apple lie! Has it 
really been a year since you made 
your debut at the Moscone Center 
in San Francisco? My how you have 
grown. This month we take a look back 
at your first year — at the excitement and 
disappointment — and attempt to see 
what the future holds for the youngest 
member of the Apple family. We also 
have a follow-up on the Scribe printer, 
the Great Apple Programming Contest 
(win free software!), and a brief look at 
some Apple products that will change 
the way "the rest of us" do business. Hi 
ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go. 

He — Year One 

In a great execution of "event 
marketing," Apple introduced the He to 
an enthusiastic audience at San Francis- 
co's Moscone Center — you remember, 
the site of the Democratic national 
convention. Apple claims it took orders 
for over 50,000 lie computers that very 
day. Following the warm reception of 
the Mac, it initially looked as if Apple 
had another blockbuster product on 
their hands, and President Sculley pre- 
dicted that Apple would sell half a 
million units by year-end. Maybe John 
spoke too soon. 

The Apple lie, though a perfectly 
capable machine (and a sexy one at that), 
was immediately criticized by trade 
publications for its lack of slots. I am per- 
fectly aware of the fact that the Apple lie 
contains the "most popular" peripherals 
already installed in virtual slots, but 
along with many third-party hardware 
manufacturers, I lament that Apple 
didn't provide external access to at least 
one expansion slot. Has this been the 
case, I think Sculley might have realized 
his 500,000 sales expectations. 

Heralded as a portable computer, as 
of this writing the He has yet to get its 
traveling papers in the form of a full- 
screen LCD and battery pack. Back in 
April of last year Apple showed off a full- 
screen liquid crystal display that would 



connect to the He via the video expan- 
sion port. This flat-panel screen is ca- 
pable of displaying 80 columns by 24 
lines of text and even double hi-res ani- 
mated graphics. Initially this product 
was slated for release in the fourth-quar- 
ter of 1984, but Cupertino continued to 
push back the release date. Latest word 
has it that the LCD flat-panel display 
will be in stores by the time you read this. 



A 



iS of this writing the He has 
yet to get its traveling papers in 
the form of a full-screen LCD and 
battery pack. 



But when you think about it, how many 
people will be willing to part with several 
hundred dollars just so they can lug 
around a "portable" He? I put the word 
portable in quotes because there is still 
no official word on the official battery 
pack that is necessary for the He to take 
to the roads and skyways (Disc washer 
offers a carrying case with built-in power 
supply). 

Enough of unfulfilled hardware 
promises, what about all that great soft- 
ware that was going to take advantage of 
the built-in mouse technology? Well, to 
be honest, with the exception of a few 
programs such as Odesta's How about a 
Nice Game of Chess, the mouse-icon user 
interface for the II line just hasn't caught 
on. Not yet at least. If Apple had bundled 
a mouse into the lie package, software 
houses would have flocked to support it. 

There is still a chance that the 
mouse-icon user interface will become as 
widely accepted for the 1 1 line as it has on 
the Mac, but such acceptance hinges on a 
recently available He ROM upgrade of- 



fered by Apple. Four chips are involved, 
the most important of which is the 
65C02, the cpu used in the lie. 

Basically the 65C02 is a low-power 
chip compatible with the 6502 (used in 
the rest of the 1 1 line), the main difference 
between the two being that the 65C02 
contains special codes that optimize the 
programmability of the mouse as an in- 
put device. This upgrade ensures the 
compatibility of lie software for use on 
the He. If enough He owners purchase 
the upgrade I would expect software 
manufacturers to begin a full-fledged ef- 
fort to support the mouse-icon interface 
on the II family. 

I'm going to end my diatribe on He 
deficiencies without even mentioning 
the slow serial port problem (see Decem- 
ber 1984 Apple Cart). Let me say for the 
record that I own a He, and though 
sometimes I seem critical, I don't regret 
my purchase. I can think of no other 
computer for the price that is so attrac- 
tive and operates with such beautiful 
simplicity. 

Scribe Errata 

I reviewed the Apple Scribe thermal 
printer in this column in December of 
1984, at which time I recommended that 
potential buyers save their money and 
purchase the Apple Imagewriter in- 
stead. This recommendation was due 
largely to inadequacies of the thermal 
transfer process employed by the Scribe 
to print text and graphics. I found the 
output highly inconsistent and not up to 
Apple's standard of quality. Recently I 
received a letter from Linda Merrill of 
the Apple II Public Relations Office 
which prompted me to drag the Scribe 
out of the closet and take a second look. 
The letter was printed with a Scribe and 
reads as follows: 

"I am responding to the Apple 
Scribe printer review article which ap- 
peared in your December issue. 

"The print quality of the Apple 
Scribe printer, like all thermal transfer 



108 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIl 1985 



printers, is directly affected by the 
smoothness of the paper used. It is the 
paper that unlocks the true potential of 
the Scribe. By using a smooth surfaced 
paper, the Scribe has the capability to 
produce print quality that was never be- 
fore available in a printer of Scribe's 
price class. The article did not specify the 
type of paper used in testing; we recom- 
mend Hammermill Thermal Transfer 
Paper. 

"Ribbon prices are quite different 
from those indicated in Creative 
Computing's article. Black ribbons have 
been available since August at $4.99 (not 
$6.99). Color ribbons are now priced at 
$5.99 and were never sold at $9.99. We 
would appreciate it if you would provide 
this information to your readers." 

Thanks for the letter Linda, I al- 
ways appreciate fan mail. When I re- 
viewed the Scribe I specifically stated 
that "Apple recommends any 16 to 20 
pound smooth finish stock or Xerox 
4024 copier paper." For my test pur- 
poses, I used the Xerox paper as it gave 
me the best print quality of all the papers 
I tried. I have since tracked down a ream 
of Hammermill paper and must admit 
that the print quality is greatly improved 
with this paper. 

Even in light of what you have 
brought to my attention, Linda, I must 
still recommend the Imagewriter in lieu 
of the Scribe for several reasons. First of 
all, Hammermill Thermal Transfer pa- 
per is expensive, and the people that opt 
to buy the Scribe do so because it is an in- 
expensive way to get hardcopy — they 
shouldn't be burdened with the cost of 
special paper. Second, the Scribe ribbons 
are also relatively expensive, and are 
consumed far too quickly to make them 
economical; the low price of the Scribe is 
offset by the high cost of ribbons and pa- 
per. But the Scribe is not alone — none of 
the thermal transfer printers I have seen 
to date offers what I consider adequate 
print quality for the money. 

Write Away!!! 

Ok, you've asked for it, so here it is. 
The Great Apple Programming Con- 
test. Many readers have been complain- 
ing about the high price of commercial 
software, so here it is, a programming 
contest that will add to the body of public 
domain software. And there are prizes, 
too. Sound good? Read on for details. 

To enter the contest, simply mail us 
your favorite piece of code in any lan- 
guage for any Apple computer in ma- 
chine-readable format (program listings 
not acceptable, unless under 10 lines). If 



you have a CompuServe account, feel 
free to upload your submissions directly 
to the Apple Cart section in the Creative 
Computing SIG (go pcs-22 from any 
function prompt). Incidentally, the best 
of the runners-up will be posted on 
CompuServe for easy downloading. The 
winners (especially those of short to me- 
dium length) will stand a good chance of 
being published in the magazine. 

There will be software prizes in each 
of the following categories: graphics, 
utility, entertainment, nonsense, best 
overall, and best short program. The 
Mac, the II, and the III will have their 
own setsof winners, so there are plenty of 
chances to win. 

Please include with your sub- 
mission a short description of what the 
program does, what computer it runs on 
(list all requirements), a program listing, 
your address and phone number, and 
what type of soft ware package you prefer 
if you win. The contest ends May 1 5, 
1 985. Winners will be notified within one 
month of that date. All submissions be- 
come the property of Creative Comput- 
ing. The contest is open to all readers, 
except employees of Ziff-Davis Publish- 
ing Company. There you have it — a 
most generous offer if I do say so myself. 
What are you waiting for? Power up 
your system and get those disk drives 
spinning, you've got a contest to win. 

Working in the Mac Office 

At its annual shareholder's meeting 
on January 23, Apple announced several 
new products that make the Macintosh a 
viable contender in the fight to keep I BM 

The LaserWriter Printer 



from maintaining its stranglehold in the 
business computer market. Although a 
more in-depth evaluation will appear in a 
subsequent issue, a brief overview of 
these products is in order now. 

The Macintosh Office is centered 
around AppleLink, a local area network 
that will support as many as 32 comput- 
ers or peripheral devices, including other 
AppleLink networks. The cost for each 
node of the network is $50, compared to 
$300 to $1000 for connections in other 
similar networks. The Mac Office allows 
workers to share information and 
greatly improves communications and 
productivity in the work environment. 

Probably the most important thing 
to note is that the AppleLink can con- 
nect not only Macs, but IBM personal 
computers as well. Imagine that; it's akin 
to the U.S. allowing the Soviet Union to 
borrow the keys to the space shuttle. Ac- 
tually, it is a brilliant move by Apple. 
You see, there are so many IBM PCs en- 
trenched in the corporate world that 
managers are hesitant to buy Macintosh 
computers. By ensuring that with 
AppleLink the Mac can communicate 
with IBM computers, Apple just may 
infiltrate the coveted business market 
now dominated by IBM. 

Two other very important 
announcements made at the sharehold- 
er's meeting were the introduction of a 
laser printer, named LaserWriter, and 
the reduction in price of the Mac line of 
computers. The LaserWriter can pro- 
duce near typeset -quality text and high- 
resolution graphics all at a maximum 
rate of eight pages per minute. The out- 




VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 109 



Help Make Yeur Dreams 
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Get Rich: Real Estate Planning™ 
Get Rich: Insurance Planning™* 

Now Available 

at your software dealer 



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Outside California 
1-800-421-3931 




CIRCLE 108 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



Software That Works 
For Generations 

6 Types of Charts and Sheets 

Indices 

User Fields 

Notes, Footnotes and Sources 

No Limits 

Adapts to Your Hardware 

Comprehensive 

Easy to Use 

And Much, Much More 

Send for brochure and sample printouts 

Family Roots includes detailed manual and 2 lull diskettes 

of programs for your Apple II. IBM PC 

Commodore 64 and CP M ■ 

Other genealogy software also available. 

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QUINSEPT, INC. 

P.O. Box 216, Lexington, MA 02173 

(617) 862-0404 
CIRCLE 149 ON READER SERVICE CARD 

IIO CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



MATH 
CHAMPIONS 

come from 

OLYMPUS 

THE INFINITE 
MATH SERIES 

Quadralric Equations 
Geometry 
Linear Equations 
Simple Inequality 
Functions and Graph 
Expansion of Expressions 
Simultaneous Equations 
Statistics and Graph 
Greatest Common Factor 

$39.95 each. 
APPLE • COMMODORE 64 

OLYMPUS EDUCATIONAL 
SOFTWARE, INC. 

1660 No. Hotel Circle. Suite 310 
San Diego. California 92108 

(619) 296-8555 



CIRCLE 139 ON READER SERVICE CARD 



APPLE CART 



put of the LaserWriter must be seen to be 
believed. Also, since it can emulate the 
Diablo 630 daisywheel printer, the 
LaserWriter can be used by IBM- 
compatible personal computers. 

In addition to renaming the Lisa 
2/10 computer the Macintosh XL, Ap- 
ple announced that it was reducing the 



B 



y ensuring that with 
AppleLink the Mac can 
communicate with IBM 
computers, Apple just may 
infiltrate the coveted business 
market now dominated by IBM. 



price of the machine to $3995. The Fat 
Mac has also been reduced from $3 195 to 
$2795. Also note that the price of the 
1 2 8 K to 5 1 2 K upgrade has been slashed 
several hundred dollars, bringing it 
down to $700. 

If that is still out of your reach, you 
may want to contact Centra Systems 
Inc. of Agoura Hills, CA. They provide a 
functionally and electronically equiva- 
lent upgrade for $350 plus shipping. 
Their work includes a 90-day warranty 
and is certainly worth looking into if you 
can afford to be without your Mac for a 
week or two while the upgrade is being 
performed. ■ 



Firms Mentioned in This Column: 

Apple Computer Inc. 
20525 Mariani Ave. 
Cupertino, CA 95014 
(408)973-2222 

International Business Machines Inc. 

P.O. Box 1328 

Boca Raton, FL 33432 

(305)998-6007 

Discwasher 

1407 N. Providence Rd. 

P.O. Box 6021 

Columbia, MO 65205 

(314)449-0941 

Centra Systems, Inc. 
5308 Derry Ave., Suite C 
Agoura Hills, CA 9 1301 
(818)889-6246 






TANDY GRAM 

Third-party DOSes make Color Computer 
programming easier 



Jake Commander 



The following was sent to me from 
Spectrum Projects in San Jose, CA. 
In true cloak-and-dagger style, 
there was no accompanying letter, so I'm 
assuming the sender is using me as a fo- 
rum. It concerns a new version of the 
Color Computer and is reprinted exactly 
as I received it. 

"Speaking of newer and newer ver- 
sions of CoCo II: The very latest is 26- 
3 1 36A and it has a totally revised board. 
Once again, Tandy has pulled the rug out 
from under third-party suppliers. For in- 
stance, non-standard Texas Instruments 
RAM chips are installed. The 16K com- 
puter uses TMS4416 chips which are 
1 8-pin 4x 1 6's, so only two sockets are re- 
quired, not the eight sockets that we are 
accustomed to. Because these chips re- 
quire a 256 (versus a 128) cycle refresh, 
a new SAM chip is required — a 
74LS785. (The previous one was a 
74LS783.) 

"The VDG (video display gen- 
erator) is the same, but a new one with 
true lower case will be in the 26-3 136B 
version of CoCo II and CoCo III. A new 
28-pin ROM (the old version was 24- 
pin) is used for Color Basic and Ex- 
tended Color Basic (yes, one chip for 
both Basics). Basic is now version 1.3 
and is soldered in rather than socketed. 
If a non-extended 1 6K computer is made 
with this board, it will be supplied with a 
24-pin Basic chip plugged into a 28-pin 
socket, or maybe soldered into the loca- 
tion. There are 12-pin connectors near 
the RAM chips and some jumpers 
marked '128K RAM' so we can expect 
some kind of a satellite board next year 
for that upgrade. (The 64 K upgrade may 
be via satellite board as well.) The 
74LS244 buffer has been changed to a 
74LS623. 

"Finally, the disk controller has 
been completely redesigned. The part 
number (AX7980) is the same but there 
are fewer chips used. They are: a new 
Western Digital 1773, which is a 28-pin 
floppy disk controller chip, and seven 



others(74LS74,74LS14,74LS139,74LS02. 
74LS273. and two 74LS16s). The new 
controller clock speed is 16 MHz rather 
than 10 MHz." 

Thanks to Spectrum Projects for 
that information. It shows how difficult 
it can be for independent third-party 
suppliers to keep abreast of Tandy's in- 
tentions at t he hard ware level . The Color 
Computer continues to be rejuvenated 
— maybe Tandy hopes that it will be- 
come their Apple II. 

Motorola has had a chip set avail- 
able 1 . Features of ADOS. 



• Repeat and edit of last direct-mode 
command. 

• Control key abbreviated entry of Basic 
commands. 

• Automatic line number prompts for 
program entry. 

• Lowercase command entry. 

• DOS command for booting 0S9. 

• One- or two-column directory, with 
free granules. (Screen or printer). 

• copy < filename > to < drive 
number > . 

• AE error override option for copy and 

RENAME. 

• runm command to load and execute a 
machine language program. 

• ram command for ROM-to-RAM 
transfer (64K access). 

• scan command lists ASCII file to 
screen or printer. Gives start, end, and 
exec addresses for binary file. 

• prt on/off enables/disables routing 
of text output to printer as well as screen. 

• Mini-monitor provides hexadecimal 
memory examine and change capability. 

• PEEPcommand provides movable win- 
dow for viewing memory contents. 

• High-resolution text screen driver in- 
cluded as an additional utility (42, 5 1 , or 
64 characters per line, with lowercase). 

• Customizing utilities included enable 
definition of your own control key abbre- 
viations, printer baud rate, disk step rate 
(6-30 ms), tracks per disk (33 or 40). 
Double sided drives supported. 



able for some time which allows a high- 
resolution display with 64 different 
colors. For a while rumors abounded that 
Tandy (whose Color Computer already 
contains a Motorola chip set) would re- 
lease a 64-color computer. They denied it 
all as usual. But you can tell. There's a 
prototype or two somewhere. . . . 

Now at last for the reviews I prom- 
ised last month. I've taken a look at two 
disk operating systems for the Color 
Computer. The first is ADOS from 
SpectroSystems. The second is Spec- 
trum DOS 1.0 from Spectrum Projects. 
The products share many similarities, 
but I'll go over each one separately 
rather than comparing side by side. 

ADOS 

First, ADOS which describes itself 
as "an enhanced, ROM-able Disk Basic 
for the Radio Shack Color Computer, 
64K required for RAM use." The state- 
ment about RAM use is interesting in it- 
self. As the regular Tandy DOS is 
contained within the plug-in ROM car- 
tridge at the side of the computer, there 
are two ways in which a new DOS can 
take over. The first involves switching to 
a memory map whereby 64K of RAM is 
addressed. This 64K contains the new 
DOS. The other way is to extract the 
ROM from the disk controller ROM 
pack and insert a different ROM 
containing the required DOS. So ADOS 
can be implemented either from RAM in 
64K mode or from ROM if you have the 
ability to get an EPROM burned in. The 
ADOS manual gives addresses of two 
services that can do the EPROM pro- 
gramming for a mere $20 including the 
chip. 

Brief descriptions of ADOS fea- 
tures are listed in Table 1. 

Also included on the latest version 
of ADOS is an error command which 
provides error trapping within Basic. 
The manual for ADOS consists of 1 1 
pages of clearly written text which I 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 1 1 1 



TANDY GRAM 



thought was OK. This isn't glossy maga- 
zine stuff. It is a concise description of 
the DOS commands and how to use 
them written for someone who already 
understands Tandy's DOS. 

I liked the repeat-command feature. 
I wish all operating systems (disk or 
otherwise) had this facility. How often 
have you typed in a long command line 
only to have the computer throw it back 
at you for a single typo? ADOS lets you 
edit the last command line using the Ba- 
sic line editor. Simply entering a slash 
brings up the entire last line input with 
the edit mode invoked. You simply cor- 
rect any typos and press Enter. The com- 
mand is then handed back to the com- 
puter as if you had retyped it. This is a 
nice feature. 

I found the lowercase entry of com- 
mands to be another nice feature which 
worked well with my lowercase mode. I 
use Dennis Kitsz's lowerkit and con- 
stantly find myself in lowercase simply 
because it is less ugly than the Tandy in- 
verse uppercase. Hence, the computer 
keeps complaining about syntax errors 
just because of the case I happpen to be in 
while typing. ADOS brings some sanity 
back to that scenario by happily working 
in either case. 

For those of you who are still limp- 
ing along in uppercase only, a high- 
resolution text screen utility is provided. 
This lets you choose 42, 5 1 , or 64 charac- 
ters per line. I wish 32 characters per line 
had been included so you could have a 
simulated low-resolution lowercase 
driver. However, this is only a bare- 
bones utility which doesn't react visibly 
to a cls command or the Clear key. 

The prt on/off command, which 
lets you concurrently send output to 
both screen and printer, is another 
goody. This is always useful. You can 
capture the printed output of an entire 
program without having to change all 
the print statements to print#-2 
statements. The prt on option is appar- 
ently used when using the dirp and catp 
commands, dirp sends the output of the 
dir command to the printer and catp 
sends the output of a cat command to 
the printer, dir is the same as the Tandy 
dir command except that the number of 
free granules is printed at the end. cat 
gives a two-column directory, letting 
you get more information on a single 
line. Using catp gives a printed direc- 
tory suitable for attaching to a disk 
envelope. 

The reason I say that dirp and catp 
both invoke the prt on command is that 
if you hit Break during the output of the 



directory, you must type prt off to dis- 
able the printed output. I don't like that. 
I think it is the responsibility of the 
operating system to deal with such 
situations. 

A similar situation arises when the 
scan command is used. This lets you list 
the contents of an ASCI I file or gives you 
the addresses involved with a machine 
code file. However, interrupting a file 
scan with the Break key requires a CLOSE 
command to be issued to avoid a sub- 
sequent AD error. This is only a minor 
problem, but it seems such a pity to allow 
the hard work involved in writing a DOS 
to be compromised by simple Break-key 
trapping. (Maybe previous Tandy Gram 
columns will help!) 

The last thing I'll have room to dis- 
cuss is the monitor command. Invoked 
with the MON command, this lets you 
examine and change memory in a man- 
ner similar to the ZBUG monitor that 
comes with the EDT ASM + assembler 
from Radio Shack. Many operating sys- 
tems are equipped with facilities for 
debugging and this simple version makes 
up for the omission in Tandy's DOS. 

Table 2. Spectrum DOS 1 .0 commands. 



Spectrum DOS 1.0 



DOS: Works like the one in 1.1 Disk 
Basic. 

F.RROR: This is ON ERROR GOTO. 
FLEX: Boots Flex with ease. 
rlnm: Loads and executes machine 
code programs. 
ppeek: 16-bit version of peek. 
PPOKE: 16-bit version of POKE. 
auto: Automatically issues line number 
prompts. 

invert: Inverts subsequent output 
(lowercase). 

normal: Reverts output after invert 
command. 

wait: Automatic timed pause 
command. 

l move: Copy and delete Basic lines. 
rate: Set drive(s) seek rate. 
tracks: Sets the number of tracks per 
drive. 

HELP: Lists all new commands. 
HD1R: Hardcopy directory. 
hires: Gives hi-res 32, 5 1 , or 64 charac- 
ters per line. 

old: Undoes new command. 
fkey: Up to nine programmable keys. 
lcopy: Copy Basic line. 
break: Disables the Break key . 
memo: Full screen editor and screen 
dump. 

flip: Inverts the screen. 
exit: Returns to normal text screen. 
echo: Output to printer concurrently 
with screen. 



Next on the agenda is Spectrum 
DOS 1.0. This has many similarities to 
ADOS in that Radio Shack compatibil- 
ity is maintained, some of the commands 
provide the same features (even using the 
same command names), and it, too, can 
be burned into an EPROM. Customiz- 
ing utilities are also provided. The run- 
down of Spectrum DOS 1.0 commands 
is shown in Table 2. 

First, a word about documentation. 
The manual is not a strong point, I'm 
afraid. I would never have dared turn 
anything like this over to my English 
teacher. Phrases like "bingo your in 
Spectrum DOS," "without the lose of 
your program," and "a inverse F" tend 
to lessen my confidence in any product 
no matter how high its apparent quality. 
Also, at a mere six pages, this DOS is ill 
served by its manual. A little more dis- 
cussion of some of the commands would 
serve both to illustrate and encourage 
their use. 

One thing I do like about this DOS is 
that it automatically searches all drives 
when looking for a program. I shouldn't 
even have to comment on a feature such 
as this which should be standard in any 
DOS whether it be for a Cray, a Color 
Computer, or a programmable cal- 
culator. Tandy was not thinking when 
they left it out. Spectrum DOS also lets 
you use any number of tracks on your 
drive so you can hook up an 80-track 
drive if you wish. 

Along with other enhancements to 
life in the direct mode, DOS 1 .0 lets you 
redefine both the cursor character and 
the ready prompt. A keyboard repeat 
feature is part of the package; to repeat a 
key, simply hold it down and the charac- 
ter shifts to second gear. 

The high-resolution text screen is 
well integrated into the DOS. It doesn't 
feel like a separate software driver. The 
Clear key and the cls command both 
work properly, and it is simple to revert 
back to normal low-resolution graphics 
with the normal command. The Basic 
print @ command is extended to work 
in any print density. However, no check 
is made for a print @ where the charac- 
ter is off the screen, and I did manage to 
crash the DOS when I tried a PRINT 
CHR$(129) followed by exit to lo-res 
then list. 

The lmove and lcopy commands 
add a nice feature to Basic. Both com- 
mands allow you to copy Basic lines 
from one part of a program and place 
them in another, lmove deletes the old 



112 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 198. 1 ; 



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lines, whereas lcopy leaves them intact. 
Another nice command is old. Have 
you ever had that flash of panic when 
you typed in new and realized you 
hadn't saved the program first? Nasty 
isn't it? Salvation is at hand with the OLD 



I 



he PRT ON/OFF command, 
which lets you concurrently send 
output to both screen and 
printer, is another goody. 



command. As long as you don't add any 
line numbers after your new command, 
old will restore the program you absent- 
mindedly erased. 

Finally, I'll mention the help com- 
mand. This is another command that 
should be available in any "real" DOS. 
Typing help brings to the screen a dis- 
play of all the new commands along with 
the required syntax for their use. 

Summary 

Both of these disk operating sys- 
tems have much more to offer than I 
have room to cover here. As for which 
one is better, I find it difficult to decide. 
Spectrum DOS 1.0 may have a slight 
edge, but I'm not comfortable with the 
thought that I could crash it so easily. 
ADOS stayed intact during my wild for- 
ays into its commands. A scan through 
the features of each DOS versus your 
own particular requirements will be 
your best guide. 

The manual of Spectrum DOS 1 .0 
ends with a quaint quote which I can't re- 
sist passing on as an epilogue: 

"Every precaution has been taken 
to assure that this program is error free, 
but there is no program in existence that 
it totally bug free. So if one is en- 
countered please let us know." So folks, 
if you find a bug-free program. ... ■ 



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COMMODORE'S 
PORT 



The Commodore 1 28 PC 
Sheldon Leemon 



The new Commodore 128 is a power- 
ful upgrade of the highly successful 
Commodore 64. In it's attempt to 
serve the broad range of needs found 
among users of low-end personal 
computers, Commodore has actually 
created three computers in one. The 128 
has all of the features of the 64 and can 
emulate it exactly. In addition, it has a 
1 28K super-64 mode, with over 1 1 9K of 
RAM accessible to Basic programmers, 
a new Basic interpreter that fully sup- 
ports the machine's sound and graphics 
capabilities, an extended keyboard, and 
an 80-column color or monochrome dis- 
play capability built in. Finally, there is a 
separate Z80 processor, which allows 
the use of standard CP/M software (the 
machine comes equipped with CP/M 
Plus Version 3.0). This new machine also 
improves the slow disk drive access time 
that plagued the 64, and made it less than 
satisfactory for business use. When used 
with the new 1571 disk drive, the 1 28 will 
perform Commodore-style disk I/O five 
times faster than the 64, and is over ten 
times faster in CP/M mode. 

Physically, the 128 is a sleek ma- 
chine with a low profile and an attrac- 
tive, dramatically styled white case. It is 
a little wider than the 64, not quite as 
high, and almost twice as deep. The 
backplane extends so far back beyond 
the keyboard that it is almost possible to 
stand a monitor on it . The core of the new 
keyboard is a 66-key duplicate of the 64 
keyboard. Off to the right side is a 1 4-key 
numeric pad, and along the top row are 
groupings of new keys, including sepa- 
rate cursor, esc, tab, alt, caps lock, 

HELP, LINE FEED, 40/80 DISPLAY, and 

no scroll keys. On the right side of the 
unit are two joystick ports, the on/off 
switch, and a reset button. The port 
connectors on the back of the unit are 
identical to those on the 64, with the 
addition of a second video output, to be 
used for the new 80-column display to ei- 
ther an RGBI or high-resolution mono- 




chrome monitor. 

To get an idea of the capabilities of 
this new machine, let's examine its three 
modes. First is the Commodore 64 
mode. Since by this time the features of 
the 64 are fairly well known, there is no 
need to go into much detail here except 
to say that when the 128 is in 64 mode, 
the machine is 100% compatible with 
the 64. How compatible is it? So compat- 
ible that you can't even switch back to 
1 28 mode without turning the computer 
off, since when in 64 mode it has no ac- 
cess whatever to the memory manage- 
ment chip (which of course is not present 
on a real 64). So compatible that when in 
64 mode the computer cannot read the 
additional keyboard keys. 

Compatibility may be reduced some- 
what when the machine is used with the 
new 1571 drives. Though the drive 
behaves as closely as possible to a 1541, 
there may be slight differences that will 
confuse some of the more exotic copy 
protection schemes. Commodore has 
stated that it will help manufacturers 
cure even these rare cases of disk incom- 
patibility. In short, unless a program is 
doing something incredibly bizarre, it 
will load, and if it loads, it will certainly 
run. 

Next, we move on to 1 28 mode. This 



is the mode in which we find the machine 
on power up. The first thing you see is a 
message telling you that Basic version 
7.0 has 1 22365 bytes free. In this mode, 
all of the features of the 64 are retained, 
but there are several new features as well. 
First of all, in this mode the entire ex- 
tended keyboard is operative, and since 
the key assignment table is stored in 
RAM, any or all of the keys can be re- 
defined. The CI 28 has a greatly ex- 
panded 48K ROM Operating System 
(three times as big as that of the 64). Of 
this, approximately 16K consists of the 
Kernal Input/Output and advanced 
screen editor routines, and 32K is de- 
voted to the Basic language and a full 
machine language monitor. Many of the 
new features are very similar to those 
found in the ill-fated Plus/4 and the 
BI28, such as an advanced screen editor 
(which includes such features as line 
insertion, line deletion, and margins at 
the top, bottom, and sides of the screen). 
The Basic interpreter, version 7.0, 
has all of the features of every previous 
Commodore Basic and then some. It fea- 
tures the full range of disk commands 
supported by Basic 4.0 found on the 
CBM business computers and all of the 
music, hi-res, and sprite graphics com- 
mands found in the Super Expander car- 



116 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



t ridge. To these, it adds a number of 
miscellaneous commands from Basic 3.5 
on the Plus/4, including Basic utilities 
such as automatic line numbering, 
renumbering, and block deletion, a 
powerful print using command for 
formatting output, and some structured 
programming constructs, such as be- 
gin, BEND, DO, LOOP, WHILE, UNTIL, 

and exit. 

In at least one respect, however, the 
CI 28 differs from every previous Com- 
modore machine. Upon power-up, the 
computer checks the disk drive to see if it 
contains a special auto-booting disk. If it 
does, it will load and run the program (ei- 
ther a named file or a range of sectors of 
the disk) that is indicated in the boot sec- 
tor of the disk. This feature, previously 
found on almost every other home com- 
puter, allows the creation of applications 
programs that can be easily used by those 
unfamiliar with the operation of a com- 
puter. Similarly, the Basic command 
run has been changed so that the com- 
mand RUN "PROGRAM" will load 
and automatically run the named 
program. 

One hardware difference between 
the 128 and the 64 is the memory 
management chip that enables switching 
between the various modes of operation. 
It also allows the use of 128K of RAM 
and up to 1 12K. of ROM memory by a 
microprocessor that can access only 64K 
at a time. In fact, the memory manage- 
ment system can handle up to 5 1 2K. of 
RAM, although the extra 384K can be 
used only as a super-fast RAM disk. 
Such a RAM disk add-on unit was 
hinted at by Commodore officials, 
though they made no actual product 
announcement. 

Unlike a simple bank selection pro- 
cess that allows the software to flip be- 
tween two banks of 64K at a time, the 
new chip allows you to do such things as 
select common areas of memory that will 
be shared by the different memory 
banks. The memory management chip 
also allows you to designate more than 
one color RAM area. This makes it eas- 
ier to keep multiple screens of display 
data in memory and flip from screen to 
screen. 

Machine language programmers 
will appreciate the fact that this chip will 
allow them to set up multiple zero page 
and stack segments. In addition to the 
built-in ROM and RAM. the memory 
management allows up to two 32K appli- 
cation programs in ROM. Such ROM 
programs can be added as special 128 
cartridges. These cartridges operate like 



the Plus/4 "function key" cartridges. On 
power-up, the computer checks to see if 
any such cartridges are present, and if 
any are, they can take control briefly 
and hook themselves up to one of the 
function keys, which can then be used to 
start the cartridge program. 

The engineers demonstrating the 
new computer at the Consumer Elec- 
tronics Show in Las Vegas said that the 
machine also has an empty IC socket 
that could be filled with up to 32K of 
application program or system ROM, 
making that application or system pro- 
gram available to the user on power-up. 
Proposed uses for that ROM space in- 
clude advanced DOS support, drivers 
for a mouse controller, and RAM disk 
software to support proposed memory 
extension modules. As of this writing, 
the question of what ROM will be added 
is not yet settled, but it seems fairly cer- 
tain that some little "goodie" will be 
thrown in. 

In addition to the 40-column VIC 
display chip found on the 64, the CI 28 
has an entirely separate 80-column dis- 
play controller chip, similar to the one 
used by the IBM PC. This chip provides 
output for a full 80-column RGBI 16- 
color display with 640 x 200 resolution. 
This display can also be viewed on a 
high-resolution monochrome monitor. 
Since the 40-column and 80-column dis- 
play systems are completely separate, it 
is quite possible for a program to gener- 
ate two completely different displays at 
once. 

Or, it is possible to shut off the VIC 
chip completely, and only use the 80 col- 
umn display. When this is done, the 
clock speed of the system is doubled to 2 
MHz, because unlike the VIC chip, the 
new CRT controller does not share 
RAM with the processor. It has its own 
16K of memory, which the processor 
can access only via the video chip. All of 
the text characters on the 80-column 
screen are in effect bit-mapped, using a 
standard character set that is down- 
loaded to its screen memory. Since the 
character data are in RAM, an unlimited 
variety of user-defined characters can be 
downloaded and displayed on the 80- 
column screen. This makes it possible to 
display high-resolution graphics in a 640 
x 200 format, as well as text. The major 
limitation is speed since the main proces- 
sor cannot read display memory di- 
rectly, but must go through the display 
controller chip. While this probably lets 
out hi-res animation, quality business 
graphics are perfectly feasible. 

There are two other minor, albeit 



very useful hardware additions to the 
Plus/4. The first is a Reset button lo- 
cated on the right side of the case next to 
the on/off switch. This allows you to re- 
cover from a software crash without 
disturbing the contents of memory. The 
other change is to the serial port, which is 
now connected to the CIA chip hard- 
ware serial register. This means that 
while the disk drive still uses a serial, 
rather than a faster parallel connection, 
at least the CI 28 does not have to rely on 
slow software handshaking for its serial 
transfer. The older 1541 disk drive can 
still be used with the 128, but the com- 
puter cannot make use of the faster 
transfer rate when connected to it. 

If these were the only additional fea- 
tures that the CI 28 had to distinguish it 
from the 64, it would still be a distinct 
step up. But on top of all of these new fea- 
tures, the 128 is a complete CP/M ma- 
chine. Using a Z80A microprocessor, 
the 128 runs CP/M Plus Version 3.0, 
which is supplied with the computer. 
The clock speed of the Z80 is given as 4 
MHz, but the engineers state that the 
effective speed of the system is probably 
closer to 2 MHz. Although the 80-col- 
umn display is more in keeping with the 
requirements of most CP/M programs, 
the Z80 also has control of the VIC chip 
with its colorful sprite graphics, and the 
musical capabilities of the SID chip. 

The system boots CP/M from a 
Commodore formatted disk, but once 
activated it can use the 1 57 1 disk drive to 
load programs and read data in standard 
I BM System 34 format (used by comput- 
ers like the Kaypro and Osborne). Under 
software control, the drive can also emu- 
late other CP/M formats. In CP/M 
mode, the 1571 drive stores up to 41 OK 
of data and has a transfer rate almost 12 
times as fast as the 64 drive. Thus, the 
machine provides access to the entire 
CP/M software library, without requir- 
ing you to convert the software to any 
particular disk format. 

With the CI 28, Commodore seems 
to have addressed all of the deficiencies 
of the 64 that might have disqualified 
that machine as a serious, general pur- 
pose computer. A faster disk drive with 
greater storage capacity has been added, 
and an 80-column display provided. To 
the already massive home software li- 
brary of the 64, this machine adds the 
enormous CP/M library, which features 
time-tested software for every type of 
business application. Thus, in its 
versatility this machine rivals, and per- 
haps surpasses the Apple II, at a price 
very close to the current level of the 64.B 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 117 




Lyco Computer Marketing & Consultants 
TOLL FREE 800-233-8760 



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Scarborough 

Songwriter 
Picturewrit 
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SUB LOGIC 

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FlightSimulatorll Atari 32.75 
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Trillium 

Shadowkeep $26 75 

Fahrenheit 451 $26 75 

Amazon $26 75 

Synapse 

Synlile $48 95 

Syncalc $48 95 

Syncomm $29 95 

Syntrend $48 95 

Graphics Tablet 

Supersketch $32 95 

Kolala $69 95 

THE ILLUSTRATOR $99 95 

SPIDER EATER $22 50 

SPEEICOPTER $27 75 

BUSINESS 

VISICALC $159 75 

LETTER PERFECT R 5900 

DATA PERFECT $89 75 

FILE MANAGER $69 75 

HOME FILE MGR $69 75 



ZORK I $26 75 

ZORK II $26 75 

Scarborough 

Songwriter $24 75 

Net Worth $49 95 

Masterlype $24 75 

Run f Money $24 75 

Microprose 

Solo Flight $22 75 

NATO $22 75 

Spitfire $19 95 

F-15 Strike $22 75 

Air Rescue $22 75 

SSI 

Baseball $22 75 

Ouestron $26 75 

50 Missions $21 75 



Spinnaker 



Alphabet 
Story Machine 
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Grandma 
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$1875 
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Bank St Writer 
Spelimaker 
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$42 75 
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COMMODORE 

C64 COMPUTER CALL 

SX 64 COMPUTER CALL 

C1 541 DISK DRIVE $239 00 

C1526 PRINTER $269 00 

MPS801 PRINTER $215 00 

CI 702 MONITOR $249 00 

C64105LOGO64 $45 00 

C64106 PILOT 64 $35 00 

SIMON'S BASIC $29 00 

SSI 

Baseball $22 75 

Germany 1984 $32.75 

50 Missions $21 75 

PERSONAL 
PERIPHEIALS 

Super Sketch-Atari 32 95 

Super SketCh-C-64 37 95 

Super Sketch-TI99/4A 37 95 

Super Sketch-Apple 52 95 

Super Sketch-IBM PC 52 95 

Timeworks 

Inventory $32 75 

Sales $32 75 

Accts Rec $32 75 

Accts Rec $32 75 

G Ledger $39 75 

Data Mgr $ )4 75 

Checkbook $14.75 

Star Battle $1475 

Cave of Word $18 75 

CARDCO 

C/01 Write Now 29 95 

C/02 Write Now - 64 39 95 

D/01 Mail Now - 64 29 00 

0/04 Spell Now - 64 29 00 

D/02 Utility Desk 1 9 95 

CSD-1 DiskDnvelnewl CALL 



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265 


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349 


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545 


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635 


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IBM 


129 


JB 1205 Amber 


145 00 


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275 


JC 1215 Color 


25500 


ZVM 1 33 RGB 




389 


JC 1216 RGB 


399 00 


ZVM 1 35 Composite 


449 


JC 460 Color 


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/VM 136 Hi k. 


589 


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MPP1000C $109 00 



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J-Cal 

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$6901 

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Smartmodem 300 $199 00 

Smartmodem 1200 $469 00 
Smartmodem 1 ?00b $399 00 
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Chroioq.aph $179 00 

ANCHOR 

Voiksmodem 

Mafh VII $9$ 99 

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D/03 Tax Payer (new) 27 95 

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D/08 Super Printer 

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Board C-64 54 00 

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Board Vic-20 24 95 

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Board Vic-20 65 00 

Scarborough 

Songwriter $24 75 

Phi Beta F $29 95 

Masterlype $24 75 

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Batteries Included 

Paper Clip $ 5 g 95 

Spell Pak $34 95 

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Home Pak j 34 95 
BUS CARD $139 95 
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Solo Flight $22 75 

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Diskey 32 95 

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OVER 2000 SOFTWARE TITLES IN STOCK 



OUTPOST: ATARI 



New computers and peripherals,- 
Plato; rumors 

David Small 



While sales of the Macintosh 
have not approached those of 
the IBM PC, there is another 
factor to be considered in assessing the 
popularity of the two machines: more 
people use — really use — Macintoshes 
than use IBMs. The PC to me represents 
the Bad Old Days of Computing, com- 
plete with disk operating systems, file 
allocation tables, and other bits of tripe 
that made computers difficult to use and 
all but impossible to learn to use. So you 
tend to find IBM machines dedicated to 
one application (most commonly, Lotus 
1-2-3). Macintosh users, in contrast, 
tend to use their computers in widely 
varied ways; the Mac is a natural for 
many applications. 

Wait a minute . . . this is the Atari 
column, right? Why am I raving about 
the Mac? Ah, the Mac is a great idea with 
one sticking point: the price. Right now, 
the best price you can get for a Mac is 
around $1 600, and that is for the 128K, 
Skinny Mac. To get the most out of the 
Mac, you need the 5 1 2 K machine, which 
will run you $2500 (if you shop around). 
This is just too much for a computer "for 
the rest of us." 

Tramiel's Surprise: The New ST line 
Now enter Jack Tramiel, who darn 
well knows a good idea when he sees it 
(like the Mac's user innovations) and 
also knows how to build an inexpensive 
machine (like the Vic 20 and Com- 
modore 64). 

And witness, a very few months 
later, the Atari 130ST and the 520ST 
computers with Macintosh-like 
capabilities. The (projected) price? For 
the 128K machine, called the 130ST, 
$400, not $ 1 600, as for the Mac. And for 
the 512K machine, the 520ST, an in- 
credible $600, not $2500. 

When these prices became known, 
many computer experts said, "great, if 
he can do it." This is a disguised com- 
pliment to Tramiel; had anyone else in 
the industry announced machines with 



these capabilities at such prices, we 
would have heard a flat "it can't be 
done." 

The machines feature an operating 
system (the part of the computer that 
deals with you) called GEM. If you have 
ever seen a Macintosh, you have seen 
GEM. If you haven't seen a Mac, check 
out our July 1984 review. 

The Atari machines feature a mouse 
and the desktop concept implemented in 



H 



lad anyone else in the 
industry announced machines 
with these capabilities at such 
prices, we would have heard a 
flat "it can't be done." 



color. What does this mean to you? The 
new Atari machines will be very easy to 
learn how to use. They will have the ease 
of use of the Macintosh at a price long 
associated with the Atari name. 

Atari's 130ST and 520ST use the 
Motorola 68000 microprocessor, a fast 
and efficient chip, and clock it at 8.0 
MHz, which is really fast. The 68000 is a 
joy to program; if you already know 6502 
or 6800 assembler, you will find the 
transition easy. The 68000 has the genius 
of a simple instruction set with many op- 
tions for each instruction. This keeps the 
number of available instructions 
manageable. 

The 68000 is faster than the IBM 
chip for two reasons. First, it is clocked 
much faster (8MHz vs. 4.77 MHz). Sec- 
ond, the 68000 talks to the world 1 6 bits 
at a time; whenever the IBM has to 
communicate, it does it in two 8-bit 
pieces, which slows it down consid- 
erably. The 68000, by the way, is the 



same chip Apple picked for the 
Macintosh. 

By the way, the current Atari chip 
runs at 1 .79 MHz and is 8-bits only. That 
is a speedup of four times in clock rate 
alone. Now add the doubling of 16-bit 
operations and the overall efficiency of 
the 68000 . . . and you thought your 
Atari was fast! 

Both of the new ST machines have 
color video with several modes: 320 x 
200 in 16 colors (roughly the same as the 
current Atari machines), 640 x 200 in 
four colors (like graphics 7 with much 
higher resolution), and 600 x 400 in one 
color (like graphics 8 with much higher 
resolution). Atari will sell you an RGB 
color monitor (XC 1 4 1 ) to use with these 
machines for around $320 (640 x 200) or 
a monochrome monitor (XM-128) for 
the 640 x 400 one-color mode for around 
$170. 

The machines are said to have both 
Centronics parallel and RS-232 serial 
ports built in; that means that no extra 
interface is necessary for these machines. 
(A sigh of relief is heard). 

Peripherals 

The disk drive for the ST line (SF 
354) will be the 3.5" type so familiar to 
Mac users. It has 500K of storage; the 
810 and 1050 have 88K and 128K, 
respectively. The price, however, may 
knock your socks off — $100 for a drive. 
Thus, we are talking about a powerful 
Macintosh-like product for under $500, 
complete with disk drive. There is also 
mention of an SH-317 10Mb hard disk, 
but no price is mentioned. 

Right now we can dispense with two 
common questions. Will the new Atari 
machines run IBM software? No. Will 
they run the old Atari software? No, 
but . . . 

The reason I qualified the second no 
is that Atari announced two other new 
machines which are "100% compatible 
with the XL line of computers." They 
are the 65XE and the 1 30XE. The 65XE 



120 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



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Creative Computing 

Please indicate which of the following mi- 
crocomputers you currently own and /or 
plan to buy in the next 12 months 





1 
Own 


2 Plan 
10 Buy 


Apple 


A 


L 


Atari 


B 


M 


Commodore / PET 


C 


N 


Digital Equipment DEC 


D 





Heath, Zenith 


E 


P 


IBM 


F 


Q 


Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80 


G 


R 


Texas Instruments 


H 


S 


Timex Sinclair 


1 


T 


Other (specify) 


J 


U 


None 


K 


V 



101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 
126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 
176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 
226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 
251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 266 
276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 
301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 
326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 
351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 
376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 
401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 
426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 
451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 
476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 



Void after June 
119 120 121 122 123 
144 145 146 147 148 
169 170 171 172 173 
194 195 196 197 198 
219 220 221 222 223 
244 245 246 247 248 
269 270 271 272 273 
294 295 296 297 298 
319 320 321 322 323 
344 345 346 347 348 
369 370 371 372 373 
394 395 396 397 398 
419 420 421 422 423 
444 445 446 447 448 
469 470 471 472 473 
494 495 496 497 498 



30.1985 
124 125 
149 150 
174 175 
199 200 
224 225 
249 250 
274 275 
299 300 
324 325 
349 350 
374 375 
399 400 
424 425 
449 450 
474 475 
499 500 



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Please indicate which of the following mi- 
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1 
Own 


2Plan 
to Buy 


Apple 


A 


L 


Atari 


B 


M 


Commodore/PET 


C 


N 


Digital Equipment / DEC 


D 


O 


Heath /Zenith 


E 


P 


IBM 


F 


O 


Radio Shack / Tandy TRS-80 


Q 


R 


Texas Instruments 


H 


S 


Timex Sinclair 


1 


T 


Other (specify) 


J 


U 


None 


K 


V 



Void after June 30. 1985 
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 
126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 
176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 
226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 
251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 
276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 
301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 
326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 
351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 
376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 
401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 
426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 
451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 
476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 

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Creative Computing 

Please indicate which of the following mi- 
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1 
Own 


2 Plan 
to Buy 


Apple 


A 


L 


Atari 


B 


M 


Commodore/PET 


C 


N 


Digital Equipment DEC 


D 


O 


Heath /Zenith 


E 


P 


IBM 


F 


k° 


Radio Shack /Tandy TRS-80 


G 


R 


Texas Instruments 


H 


S 


Timex Sinclair 


I 


T 


Other (specify) 


J 


U 


None 


K 


V 



101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 
126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 
151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 
176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 
226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 
251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 
276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 
301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 
326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 
351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 
376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 
401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 
426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 
451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 
476 477 478 479 460 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 

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Void after June 30, 1985 
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144 145 146 147 148 149 150 
169 170 171 172 173 174 175 
194 195 196 197 198 199 200 
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244 245 246 247 248 249 250 
269 270 271 272 273 274 275 
294 295 296 297 298 299 300 
319 320 321 322 323 324 325 
344 345 346 347 348 349 350 
369 370 371 372 373 374 375 
394 395 396 397 398 399 400 
419 420 421 422 423 424 425 
444 445 446 447 448 449 450 
469 470 471 472 473 474 475 
494 495 496 497 498 499 500 



3 For what, if any, business application(s) 
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OUTPOST: ATARI 



has 64K of memory, and the 1 30XE has 
I31K. 

The New Old XE Line 

These are Atari machines that you 
will know and be comfortable with im- 
mediately; the primary changes are in- 
ternal to cut production costs. One 
difference you will note immediately is 
that the "parallel expansion bus" that 
used to be on the 800XL machine is gone 
on the 65XE; it will be present on the 
1 30XE, however. 

The 6502 processor used in these 
machines is the same fast, reliable chip 
used in the previous Atari lines. How- 
ever, it is given 13 IK of memory to ac- 
cess in the 130XE model, which offers 
potential for higher speed and more 
memory-intensive applications. 
(Remember, though, that the 6S02 can- 
not access more than 64 K directly at any 
one time; the other 64K is accessed by 
temporarily turning off a piece of the 
"regular" 64K memory and turning on 
the "alternate" 64K memory instead.) 
Also bear in mind the "numbers game"; 
normally, a machine with two sets of 
64K dynamic memory chips is called a 
128K machine, as in the 128K Mac- 
intosh or 128K Commodore. In reality, 
the memory (in decimal) comes out to 
131,072 bytes — so Atari one-upped the 
competition and named the new ma- 
chine the 130XE, to get a number 
slightly higher than theirs — typical 
Tramiel competitiveness, and who 
knows how much difference it might 
make to a computer neophyte purchas- 
ing a machine? And, of course, the 5 1 2K. 
machine is advertised as the S20ST. 

The 65XE machine will cost around 
$100, which is the current price of the 
800XL, and the 1 30XE machine will sell 
for $200. These prices seem likely to 
undercut the competition (Commodore) 
by some 50%. 

Also announced was a portable 
computer with 128K. and the same 6502- 
XL compatibility, called the 65 XEP. 
Complete with a built in 3 1/2" disk 
drive and color monitor it sells for 
around $400. 

What about peripherals? There are 
many. I have mentioned the 3.5" disk 
drive for the ST series. But the most 
exciting is a promise of a $400 1 5Mb 
hard disk for the ST line by June. That's 
right, $400. Apparently the ST machines 
already have a hard disk controller (the 
expensive part of a hard disk) already 
built in. 

New printers include the XTM 201 , 
XTC 201, and XMM 801, inexpensive 



dot matrix printers with both color and 
non-impact versions, running at 20, 20, 
and 80 cps respectively. The XDM 121 
is a 12 cps letter quality daisy wheel 
printer. 

Projected shipping dates? April 1 
for the XE line; May or June for the ST 
line. 

Rumors 

Digital Research has apparently 
been working with its GEM (Graphics 
Environment Manager) operating sys- 
tem for a while; GEM works with 
CP/M-68K, DR's operating system for 
the 68000 chip. Tramiel had been carry- 
ing on discussions with DR for quite 
some time about this and decided to im- 
plement his ideas with his new Atari 
Corporation. 

There was some mention of the 
Mindset computer being added to the 
Atari line. Apparently the story was that 
the new machines were not "brought 
up" at Atari until three days before the 



I 've been on Plato since 1978 
and highly recommend you look 
into it. 



Consumer Electronics Show. So the 
Mindset was "held in reserve" as a 1 6-bit 
color computer in case the 130ST and 
520ST didn't pan out. Sounds like the 
Atari engineers put in a lot of overtime. 
Bringing up a 68000 prototype computer 
in six months is astonishing speed. 

Very hot rumor: the ST series will be 
able to run Mac software. (For those of 
you who are knowledgeable and point to 
the copyrighted Apple ROMs (pre- 
stored programs) that are part of the 
Mac, remember the Mac Works package 
for the Lisa has this same information on 
disk.) 

Another hot rumor: The ST may be 
able to read Mac disks directly. 

A final hot rumor: You'll probably 
find CP/M-68K available for the ST line 
very soon, which means there will be 
fast, efficient Pascal, C, Fortran, CBasic, 
and such available. 

Plato 

Also worthy of mention is that the 
Plato cartridge for the XL series of ma- 
chines is being released finally. If you 
have been looking for an easy-to-use 



communications net and for a place with 
some high quality educational software 
(100,000 contact hours), it would be a 
good idea to check out Plato. Plato is a 
mainframe computer in Minneapolis 
that has been around for ten years with 
an astonishingly good selection of 
courseware — everything from math 
drills and sentence structure for kids to 
how to fly a 747 (a simulator that United 
Airlines uses). The Plato Learning 
Phone, designed by two software en- 
gineers at Atari, Vince Wu and Lane 
Winner, lets you access Plato for 
$7.75/hr. (local phone call) — a rate 
competitive with CompuServe and The 
Source, certainly. You need either a 
Microbits 300/1200 baud modem (the 
I 200 baud modem ought to be an- 
nounced by the time you read this) or an 
850 interface and anyone's 300 or 1200 
baud modem. 

I've been on Plato since 1978 and 
highly recommend you look into it. It 
takes the term "user-friendly" to new 
heights and is the first computerized 
society. 

Infinity 

Atari has also announced a $49.95 
software package which is said to com- 
pete favorably with Lotus 1-2-3. The 
price is an indication of another Atari 
promise: "We won't sell software for 
over $50." There will be more on Infinity 
in a later column, rest assured. 

Conclusion 

What does this mean for new com- 
puter users? I believe that Atari finally 
has created what Apple always ad- 
vertised: "The Computer for the Rest of 
Us." It has the innovative, easy-to-use 
Macintosh user interface but none of the 
high Macintosh pricing. 

Now is a better time than ever to get 
into computers; finally, a computer that 
comes to you instead of forcing you to 
come to it. ■ 



frrvwrrrfTfrfflW 




VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/CREATIVE COMPUTING 123 



IBM IMAGES 

Mini-Reviews of nine useful products 
Will Fastie 



Keeping up with all the new products 
that pop out of the woodwork, and 
some of the old ones, is a formidable 
chore. I try to spend part of each working 
day trying something new. Now to some 
of you, that might sound like the nice 
part of a job, and I do often find myself 
enjoying that time. It is also quite a 
pain — especially when the product ain't 
so great, or when figuring out how to use 
it consumes more time than the product 
is likely ever to save. Mini-Reviews (tm 
W. Fastie) are my way of calling your 
attention to some things I have seen. 

I know that there are many very fine 
products out there. In my mini-reviews 
here, I don't mean to slight any product 
which competes with the ones men- 
tioned. These are just some that I have 
used and think deserve a mention. 

There are also some rotten products 
around, and I have in the past been ut- 
terly fearless in my condemnation of 
them. It is a happy feeling to be able to 
say that I can't think of any recent prod- 
uct that is so bad that warnings about it 
are urgent. 

Spotlight 

Software Arts' new product is that 
company's first attempt to deliver a pro- 
gram of mass appeal since VisiCalc. 
TKISoher, powerful and useful as it is, 
only piques the interest of a narrow seg- 
ment of the user market. Spotlight has 
broader appeal: it is a useful, thoughtful 
program, and distribution agreements 
with IBM and Computerland should en- 
sure wide availability. 

Spotlight provides six functions: 
calendar and appointment management, 
phone directory, index card files, note 
pad, calculator, and DOS shell. The 
functions load into memory and are 
available at the touch of a key, regardless 
of the program currently in progress 
(and assuming enough memory is avail- 
able at that moment). Because the Spot- 
light supervisor program must reside in 
memory, and because each "accessory" 
program is loaded as required, a lot of 



memory is helpful. 
Spotlight will be fas- 
ter and more useful 
on systems with hard 
disks; although this at 
first seems to limit the 
appeal of the pro- 
gram, the number of 
hard disk-equipped 
systems is rising as 
the cost of the hard 
disk plummets. 

1 have found the 
appointment calen- 
dar to be superb, rich 
in features and easy 
to use. It is the acces- 
sory 1 use most fre- 
quently. What really Spotlight 
sold me on it was 
the speed at which I am able to use it 
while talking on the telephone. I can 
quickly update my schedule, find con- 
flicts, or make notations for days in the 
immediate future or days far away. A 
particularly nice feature is the weekly 
schedule, which allows regularly sched- 
uled appointments to be noted once but 
posted automatically to every week. 
Alarms can be set, and the program 
keeps and displays meeting durations. 
The appointment book is not restrictive: 
it can schedule for any time (as opposed 
to just quarter-hours, for example). 

For a novice user, the DOS shell 
program, known as the DOS Filer, is a 
useful and intelligently constructed util- 
ity. I have experimented with it, but use 
it infrequently because my DOS knowl- 
edge is sufficient to allow efficient use of 
DOS commands. 

The phone directory, and a similar 
card file, are simple data managers for 
small files. I use the phone book; I have 
not found a use for the card file. I can 
think of many, such as client, vendor, or 
customer files. Because more than one 
phone book or card file can be main- 
tained, quite a bit of data can be stored 
with this facility. The newest version of 
Spotlight, update 1.1, allows automatic 
telephone dialing from the phone book, a 



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nice touch. 

Spotlight does need more work be- 
fore it will really catch on. It is weak in 
the printing department, resorting to 
simple printing techniques similar in 
style to those of the original VisiCalc. It 
needs to provide margins (all around) 
and print page numbers, for example. I 
also think more work is needed on the 
appointment book before it can com- 
pletely replace my Day Timer, but it is 
close enough now that I am committed 
to using both. Its price of $ 1 49.95 is a bit 
steep given these weaknesses, but I am 
hopeful. Software Arts needs a winner, 
and this could be it with a little more 
tuning. 



Sidekick and Higgins 

The most talked-about competition 
for Spotlight is Sidekick, from Borland 
International (creators of Turbo Pascal). 
I have very mixed feelings about Side- 
kick because even though it has nice fea- 
tures and a reasonably thoughtful 
design, I do not trust it. 

Frankly, I think Sidekick is still a 
little "buggy," and I have two recent 
complaints. In the first case, DOS was 
unable to find a file on a disk after Side- 
kick had been installed, but had no diffi- 



124 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 



culty without Sidekick. This problem, in 
particular, makes me think the program 
is not behaving properly. Second, Side- 
kick does not deal with all modes of 
video display; some images are garbled 
when Sidekick begins to run, although 
they are properly restored upon exit. 

I have heard several complaints 
from other users, most having to do with 
programs with which Sidekick will or 
will not run properly. My own experi- 
ences, in concert with thisother informa- 



Arguments will continue to rage 
about programs which are menu-driven 
vs. command-driven vs. function-key- 
driven. Crosstalk XVI is command- 
driven, which seems to be the least 
favorite alternative nowadays. But the 
command-driven nature of the program 
also gives it its most powerful and useful 
feature: programs (called "scripts" in 
Crosstalk lingo) can be written with the 
same commands used to run the pro- 
gram interactively. These scripts can so 




Sktekkk 



tion, make me question the reliability of 
the product. That is unfortunate, be- 
cause I have no such uneasiness with 
Turbo Pascal and would have expected 
as much from the newer package. I am 
confident that Borland will rectify these 
problems, as I have found them to be a 
responsive and responsible company. 

Higgins is a Spotlight/Sidekick-hkc 
product which I have not tried myself; I 
have only been able to watch the self- 
running demo. If the human interaction 
of Higgins is on a par with that of Spot- 
light or Sidekick, it promises to be a for- 
midable competitor. Its notable feature 
is the way in which it cross-files the 
information. A posting to the appoint- 
ment book might, for example, make a 
notation in a project file, or in a file about 
a person. 

Higgins appears to be maintaining 
its information in a more complex file 
than the other products. So I'll have to 
reserve judgment because that added 
complexity might serve to make the pro- 
gram cumbersome and slow. I'll report 
back when I have tested it more fully. 

Crosstalk 

There can be little question that 
MicroStuf s Crosstalk is the most popu- 
lar communications program — and 
with good reason. It is flexible, powerful, 
and it has an above average human 
interface. 



Crosstalk 



automate the communications process 
that Crosstalk can be made function- 
key-driven if desired. In fact, I get on to 
each information service with a single 
DOS command (a .BAT file with a name 
like OAG or MCI) and exit back to DOS 
with a single keystroke. Crosstalk, under 
control of a script, does all the rest, 
including the log-on sequences. 

Crosstalk scripts are flexible. They 
can handle just about everything that 
might come up during an on-line session . 
The new version, 3.5, includes many 
improvements as well as a script file that 
automates the process of defining your 
personal log-on scripts for the most 
popular on-line services. 

Lesser known features of Crosstalk, 
such as its ability to answer the phone 
and act as a host, even including pass- 
word protection, round out this versatile 
program. I think it is the program of 
choice for anyone with serious commu- 
nications needs, and its more powerful 
features allow it to be used as a commu- 
nications programming language. 



InfoScope 



Another product from MicroStuf is 
InfoScope, a data management program. 
Like Crosstalk, InfoScope has good qual- 
ities of interaction with the user. My rea- 
son for mentioning it here, though, is the 
speed with which it operates. 

I know of no faster program. Sorts 
and searches happen almost instantly — 



a surprise if you are used to more con- 
ventional data managers. In fact, Info- 
Scope is so fast that one is given to think 
that there might be a catch. There is. 

InfoScope gets most of its speed by 
keeping all the data in memory at once. 
This obviously limits the size of a data 
file.and InfoScope is thus best used when 
the number of records is relatively small. 
There are certainly many filing jobs that 
require a limited number of records, so 
this program is not automatically dis- 



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qualified. Such a limitation is unusual to- 
day, however, so consider the program 
carefully. 

Speed and the human interface are 
what InfoScope has to offer. It is worth a 
look; keep an open mind about it, 
though. 

Nutshell 

Of all the data management pack- 
ages I have tried over the past year, none 
has impressed me quite like Nutshell. It 
has some features that are unique, a flex- 
ible reporting capability, and a spiffy 
user interface. 

The two features that distinguish 
the program are its ability to deal with 
text and the fact that all fields are in- 
dexed. The first might seem trivial, but I 
know of no other program that handles 
text as nicely. Most data managers limit 
a field in a record to a single line, some- 
times up to 255 characters. Lately, some 
programs have emerged that can handle 
text fields of 4000 characters or so. Nut- 
shell allows text fields to be 65,000 
characters long but, more importantly, 
allows them to be displayed as arbitrary 
rectangles on the screen. Within the 
rectangle, Nutshell acts like a tiny word 
processor, wrapping the lines as the user 
enters text. If the text is changed, the new 
text reformats within the field. 

The indexing feature is the main 
selling point of Nutshell. One of the ma- 
jor problems with data management sys- 



VOLUME 1 1 NUMBER 4/ CREATIVE COMPUTING 125 



IBM IMAGES 



terns is that so much time must be spent 
designing a file, organizing screen dis- 
plays, and deciding how records will be 
retrieved. Retrieval issues are the most 
complicated, because the user must gen- 
erally decide which fields will be used as 
keys. Nutshell eliminates this require- 
ment by indexing everything. Records 
can be found by specifying any value in a 
field; retrieval is very fast and is not 
dependent on the file size. 

There is another, more subtle value 
inherent in the indexing scheme. Be- 
cause the user does not have to specify 
keys, and because everything is indexed, 
records can be retrieved based on criteria 
that were not even considered when the 
file was originally created. In many other 
filing systems, such a change of retrieval 
criteria forces a major overhaul of the de- 
sign of the particular file. 

Because everything is indexed. Nut- 
shell does exact a file size premium. But 
for those applications requiring text 
management within the filing system, 
Nutshell shines. 



Paradise Modular Display Adapter 

Many PC owners are faced with a 
problem: Having started with an IBM 
monochrome display and IBM adapter, 
what is the best way to step up to graph- 
ics? There are several good answers to 
that question. The Paradise Modular 
Display adapter is a recent answe- 
offers both short- and long-term solu- 
tions on a single board. 

The short-term solution is the ac- 
quisition of the Paradise card. For the 
first-time PC buyer or the owner wishing 
to upgrade from IBM monochrome text 
to graphics, the Paradise card offers the 
least expensive way to obtain graphics 
capabilities. Furthermore, the door is 
left open for the longer-term solution of 
adding a color display, because the Para- 
dise board can operate either an IBM 
Monochrome display or a standard 
RGB display. 

Paradise has put together a soft ware 
and hardware product that is actually a 
color graphics card in disguise. Under- 
standing this fact is vital to understand- 
ing the value of the device. First and 
foremost, the MultiDisplay board is 
completely compatible with the IBM 
Color/Graphics Adapter and thus will 
run any program that works with that 
standard. Or, to speak directly, just 
about everything. Other boards that de- 
liver graphics to the monochrome dis- 
play have a graphics resolution that is 
higher than the I BM standard, but those 



boards also require a software program 
to have a special driver. If Lotus 1-2-3 
doesn't have a driver for your SlipShod 
X23 display board, you're just out of 
luck. On the other hand, Lotus knows all 
about the IBM standard. 

Second, the board is able to repre- 
sent all 1 6 colors with different shades of 
green (or amber on some displays). Fly- 
ing the Microsoft Flight Simulator is not 
beautiful on Paradise, but it is perfectly 
playable. 

If you have a PC and monochrome 
display, or if you are just now looking at 
one, the Paradise board may make your 
investment all the more worthwhile by 
economically expanding the display 
technology without sacrificing the 
future. 

Turbo Pascal 

And now, another word about the 
product that put Borland International 
on the map. I won't belabor the point 
(I'm sure you've heard of Turbo Pascal 
from any number of sources). 

Turbo Pascal is, of course, the soft- 
ware bargain of the century. Borland 
may be doing more to popularize Pascal 
than anything that has gone before. In 
fact, PC Tech Journal (that's where I 
work) has not received unsolicited arti- 
cles about C for some time, while articles 
about Turbo just continue to pour in. I 
think we are going to see a lot more peo- 
ple using Pascal as their primary lan- 
guage, and I think it's all due to Borland. 
By the way, the company claims to have 
shipped over 200,000 copies of the 
language. 

Turbo Toolbox is a recent product 
from Borland that includes an ISAM file 
manager, a sorting program, and a spe- 
cial utility program. I am just now writ- 
ing a program to try the file manager, 
and I have heard very positive things 
about it. I have not tried the general in- 
stallation program (GINST) or the 
sorter. There are technical issues 
surrounding sorting that make a close 
look necessary before a recommendation 
can be made, but it's hard to see how you 
can go wrong for $49.95. 

Turbo Tutor is a new product from 
Borland that rounds out the Turbo Pas- 
cal family. It is a book and a diskette full 
of routines and small programs, some of 
which are useful additions to a Pascal li- 
brary. My brother, a novice programmer 
who does not know Pascal, was given all 
the Turbo Pascal products for Christ- 
mas; we'll see how he fares as a test of the 
Tutor. 



WordPerfect 



Finally, a word about an old friend 
of mine. WordPerfect is now available in 
Version 4, and it is something to behold. 
There are too many new features to list 
here, but among the more impressive are 
the new dictionary and the indexer. 
WordPerfect also gained a facility for 
maintaining a table of contents and up to 
six other tables, such as a list of figures. 
There's much more. 

I know I must sound like a broken 
record on this subject. In a future col- 
umn, I will discuss MultiMate and 
Wordstar 2000, as well as some of the 
other products in the genre. MultiMate 
has evolved quite a bit since I tested it 
several years ago, and deserves a new 
look. Wordstar 2000, of course, is Micro- 
Pro's all-new revision of Wordstar, we 
could hardly pass it up. 

I hope these brief looks at a few of 
the most interesting products prove 
helpful. ■ 



Firms Mentioned in This Column 

Software Arts 
27 Mica Lane 
WelIesley,MA02181 
(617)237-4000 

Borland International 

4807 Scotts Valley Dr. 

Scotts Valley, CA 95066 

(800)255-8008 

In CA (800) 742-1 133 

Concentric Data Systems, Inc. 
18 Lyman St. 
Westboro, MA 10581 
(617)366-1122 

Paradise Systems, Inc. 
1 50 N.Hill Dr., Suite 8 
Brisbane, Ca 94005 
(415)468-6000 

Satellite Software International 
288 West Center 
Orem.UT 84057 
(801)224-8557 

Microstuf, Inc. 

1 000 Holcomb Wood Pkwy., Suite 440 

Roswell.GA 30076 

(404)998-3998 

Leading Edge Products, Inc. 
225 Turnpike St. 
Canton, MA 02021 
(617)828-8150 



126 CREATIVE COMPUTING/APRIL 1985 






CREATIVE COMPUTING MARKETPLA' 

CLASSIFIED RATES: Per Word, 15 Word Minimum. REGULAR: $3 .50. EXPAND-AD": $5.25. Ads set in all bold type at 20% premium. Ads 
set with background screen @ 25% premium. GENERAL INFORMATION: Prepayment discounts available. Payment must accompany 
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approval; must be typewritten or printed. First word set in caps. Advertisers using P.O. Boxes MUST supply permanent address and tele- 
phone number. Orders not acknowledged. They will appear in next available issue after receipt. Closing date: 5th of the 3rd month preced- 
ing cover date (e.g., April issue closes Jan. 5th). Send order & remittance to: Classified Advertising, CREATIVE COMPUTING Magazine, 1 
Park Avenue, New York. NY. 10016. To charge your ad to a major credit card, call Lois Price at (212) 503-5115. For Customer Service, call 
(212)503-4506. 



SOFTWARE 



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HARDWARE 



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MOST PERSONAL COMPUTERS. Free Catalog: 
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ards Rd„ Ste. 254, Kansas City, M0 64116. 

COMMODORE 64/VIC 20 Games/educational soft- 
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11757. 

TI-994A SOFTWARE/HARDWARE bargains Hard to 
find items. Huge selection. Fast service. Free catalog. 
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USED SOFTWAREI Buy or sell all computers, tree 
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A#1 EXCITING game and home management soft- 
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FIND THE RIGHT SOFTWARE Custom listing for your 
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TEXAS MODEM FOR COMMODORE 64 The Best 
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HARNESS AND THOROUGHBRED HANDICAPPING 
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FREE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE CATALOG — Pet. 
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PO Box 300. Dept. G. Lake Grove. NY 11755. (516) 585- 
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SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES 



SNOBOL 4 LANGUAGE for IBM PC includes ELIZA. 
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SOFTWARE/EDUCATIONAL 

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE. Large selection. All 
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YEAR ROUND TAX PROGRAM. Tax time saver for Ap- 
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ALARM SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO PROTECT YOUR 
PERSONAL COMPUTER. Unsupervised system $260 
♦ shipping, supervised system $360 ♦ shipping. Write 
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5314 West 25th Place. Cicero. IL 60650 (312) 652- 
3850. 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES 

$3000.00 per month spare time income with your 
computer! Free details. Digatek Corporation. 2723 
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MAIL ORDER OPPORTUNITY! Start profitable home 
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free. Mail Order Associates. Inc.. Dept. 624. Mont- 
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COMPUTER EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES 

DISCOUNT COMPUTER SUPPLIES Write lor free 
catalog Mail to C.R.E. Wholesale. P.O. Box 361. North 
Salt Lake. Utah 84054. 

PROGRAM PACKAGING AND SUPPLIES Binders. 
Slipcases. Game Portfolios. Disk. Etc. FREE CATA- 
LOG Anthro Systems. 376 East St. Charles Rd. Dept. 
CC. Lombard. IL 60148. (312) 629-5160. 

DON T NOTCH THAT DISK' To use both sides ol your 
disk. Modily your read/write protect switch. Instruc- 
tions and necessary parts included Send $12 95 to 
MicroScot. PO. Box 768. Rocklin. CA 95677. (916) 624- 
5636 evenings. 

COMPUTER PUBLICATIONS 

"DISK DRIVE MANUAL"-Drive Alignment, Ad- 
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LASERWORKS Videodisc Newsletter. $12/yr Write for 
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ELECTRONIC DIRECTORY — 1500 manufacturers and 
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SUMER MARKETING. 240 N. 100 W . Logan. Utah 
84321 (801 | 752-0855 

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATIONAL programs publisher 
looking lor original ideas tor humorous situations re- 
lating to the data processing industry. Will pay $50 lor 
any idea used. Reply P.O. Box 7287. Wilmington. DE 
19803 



COMMODORE 64 



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birds, and nerd babies with explosive spit balls. Jump 
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CRUSTYWARE Flint Hall. Box 15. Syracuse. NY 13210 
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COMMODORE 64 SOFTWARE. Free price list. WMJ 
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FSP PAYS $$$ FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS. DISK 
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Adult Adventure lor Commodore-64 Disc/Tape: 
$19.95. SASE FOR DETAILS. FTW. Box 31017. Dayton. 
OHIO 464*1. 



Apple Works $199 ! HP Laser Printer $2990! Pana- 
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TIMEX/SINCLAIR 

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2202 __ 

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son Lane. (301) 881-5420 



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EXECUTIVE SOFTWARE-Stamford-(203) 359 2604 
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RHODE ISLAND 



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HEATHKIT ELECTRONIC CENTERS— Heath/Zenith 
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Rd.. (914) 761-7690. Jericho. L.I —15 Jericho Turnpike. 
(516)334-6181. 



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CN 1914 
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ATTENTION SOFTWARE 
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INDEX "ID 
ADVERTISE 


!RS 


Reader 




Service No. Advertiser 


Page 


108 Arrays, Inc /Continental Software 110 


119 Avatex 


26, 27 


101 BASF 


63 


Batteries Included 


25 


102 Borland 


14, 15 


159 BRS After Dark 


31 


121 Chase Scientific 


61 


1 1 1 CompuServe 


9 


105 Computerbanc 


85 


106 Computer Discount Products 92 


107 Computer Mail Order 


114, 115 


109 Computer Management Co 


85 


110 Computer Solutions 


85 


114 Conroy La-Pointe 


70, 71 


112 CP Aids 


44 


123 Davidson 


69 


120 DBI 


7 


122 Fastrack 


94 


115 General Electric 


39 


117 HBJ 


6 


125 Hayes 


35 


126 Howard Sams 


75 


127 IBM 


48. 49 


The Ideaworks 


18 


128 Indus Tool 


95 


134 Kensington 


37 


130 Leading Edge 


Cov 4 


131 Lyco Computing 


118, 119 


132 Megahaus 


59 


133 Microsoft 


20, 21 


135 Nonagon 


43 


137 Oberon 


11 


138 OHM Electronics 


13 


139 Olympus Education 


110 


140 Opportunities for Learning 


113 


141 Opus 


8 


143 Professional Handicapping 


95 


144 Prometheus Products 


54 


145 Protecto 


96, 97 


156 Quark 


103 


136 Quarterdeck Desq 


104, 105 


149 Quinsept 


110 


150 Radio Shack 


78, 79 


177 Ring King Visables 


30 


167 Rolland 


1 


243 Sakata 


5 


153 Scarborough 


19 


178 Screenplay 


83 


157 The Source 


29 


155 Spectrum Holobyte 


36 


166 Starshine 


113 


173 Sublogic 


23 


165 SWP 


88 


158 Tecmar 


Cover 2 


160 Terrapin 


7 


147 Timeworks 


2 


161 Topaz 


47 


162 Toshiba 


12 


164 Xerox 


90, 91 


163 Xerox Educ. Pub 


Cover 3 



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WORD PROCESSORS AT THE LEADING EDGE 

Ah rho nrssl nru>c .J_ i 1_I:UI I n i i , 



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